History Main / CleanupCrew

* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries''. The title character finds that befriending a spaceship with a powerful AI and drone units has advantages for this trope. The climax of "Artificial Condition" ends with a CorruptCorporateExecutive dead, and several members of her staff killed or unconscious. ART remote pilots her shuttle into its docking area, wipes the shuttle's memory, sends a faked message from one of the dead men to lull suspicion, and sends drones to clean and sterilize the shuttle which is then remote piloted to a place where the survivors can seek medical care and decide what, if anything, they are willing to tell the authorities.

* Somewhere in the ''TabletopGame/ConspiracyX'' game's supplements there's a mention of cleaners that Aegis {{PC}}'s can summon to cover up a mess they've left behind.

* The cleaners in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne'' (Mafia-type cleaners who [[JanitorImpersonationInfiltration masquerade as janitor-type cleaners]] -- somebody high up has a sense of humor).

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Played with. Colbert and Revin are employed in one of these after Sheryl's relic shop is attacked… but the crew is used to make the crime scene look ''more'' and not less heinous, scattering blood around, in order to get backing from the government to charge the perpetrators more money in their impending IndenturedServitude.

* ''Series/TheCleaningLady'' is a ForeignRemake of the Argentinian ''La Chica que Limpia'' (also remade as ''La muchacha que limpia'' in Mexico). The protagonist is a cleaning lady whose son has an immunodeficiency disorder that requires him to live in a sterile environment. This makes her very exact in her cleaning method and desperate for cash for her son's medical treatment, both of which cause her to work for gangsters cleaning up crime scenes.

* ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'': Armacham Technology Corporation's security guards engage in an effort to cover up their illegal experiments, which are directly responsible for the strange ghostly phenomenon in Fairport. And in case their standard guards can't do the job, they have an army of hired mercenaries who will destroy all the research facilities and kill all witnesses, including Armacham's own president, whom the board of directors blames for the mess as she stirred up the paranormal activity to begin with against their warnings. However, Armacham's cover up efforts were likely dealt a blow when their clean up crews attacked ''U.S. Military personnel''. Now the government's on to them.
* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Half-Life]]'': The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit or H.E.C.U. is sent by the government after the Resonance Cascade (the accident that unleashes the aliens from another universe) to fight off the invasion, but also to silence anyone who worked on the project. Most of them are not happy about it. And when they can't do the job, the government sends in Black Ops units who begin ''[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder killing all the remaining H.E.C.U. forces as well]]''. Prior to the Resonance Cascade, some scientist even refer to them as a "cleanup crew" which some dismiss it as "paranoid rumor" to keep employees in line.

* The cleaners in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2'' (Mafia-type cleaners who [[JanitorImpersonationInfiltration masquerade as janitor-type cleaners]] -- somebody high up has a sense of humor).
-->'''Cleaner:''' Kaufman's waiting in the van. The hardware's been bagged. Soon as the guys get Jackie Brown in there taken care of, we're done.
-->'''Cleaner 2:''' Okay, I'll round up the crew, make sure the clean-up's done: bodies, blood, prints, hair, mags, empty brass... When we're out of here, there won't be a shred of evidence for the cops to find. Just a ghost story.

A character or team, usually affiliated to TheMafia, TheMenInBlack, or TheMasquerade, who specialize in crime-scene cleanup and/or [[DisposingOfABody body disposal]].

Bodies and personal effects are wrapped in plastic and carpets and taken away for incineration or dissolved in acid. Wounded gunmen and witnesses are {{Double Tap}}ped and taken away. Blood is mopped up and blood splatter is cleaned from walls. Shell casings are collected and disposed of. Fingerprints are wiped away with solvent. Bullet holes in walls are filled and windows are replaced. Security footage is deleted and leftover files are shredded and removed. When police arrive, it looks like nothing happened here.

These are the guys behind ItWasHereISwear. They'll frequently refer to themselves as "[[FluffyTheTerrible The Cleaner(s)]]". Not, however, to be confused with TheFixer, which is something entirely different.

Bodies are wrapped in plastic and carpets and taken away for incineration or dissolved in acid. Blood is mopped up and blood splatter is cleaned from walls. Shell casings are collected and disposed of. Fingerprints are wiped away with solvent. Bullet holes in walls are filled and windows are replaced. Security footage is deleted and leftover files are shredded. Wounded gunmen and witnesses are {{Double Tap}}ped. When police arrive, it looks like nothing happened here.

Bodies are wrapped in plastic and carpets and taken away. Blood is mopped up and blood splatter is cleaned from walls. Shell casings are collected and disposed of. Fingerprints are wiped away.

* The reason [[PoliceAreUseless the police never get involved]] in the events of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that the CIA are observing everything from afar, [[IdiotPlot confused as to what's happening]] but worried that it ''might'' be a matter of national security. They're repeatedly forced to dispose of bodies before the police can find them and make everything uncomfortably public.

* In ''FanFic/OriginStory'' (a ''ComicBook/PowerGirl/Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' crossover) Alex incinerates Ben Wilkinson's body with her heat vision (after Giles murders him as a means to permanently eliminate [[EldritchAbomination Glory]]) to keep the police from looking too closely at what happened at the construction site. Its less the casual way Alex does this -- rather than the fact that she did it in the first place -- that completely ''unnerves'' Buffy, even if Buffy agrees after the fact that it probably was the best thing to do under the circumstances.

* Often mentioned offhandedly or indirectly in the Wiki/SCPFoundation.

* Season 2 of ''Series/{{Haven}}'' introduces [[Wrestling/{{Edge}} Dwight Hendrickson]], a Cleaner who tidies up Trouble related crimes and disasters to keep TheMasquerade.

* Sawyer the Cleaner from ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is a cleaner who moonlights as an assassin when she needs to. Not nearly as subtle as most Cleaners on this page, particularly given her [[ChainsawGood weapon of choice]]; but then again, [[WretchedHive Roanapur]] seems to have an unofficial policy of 'do what you want, just don't leave bodies lying around; it's bad form to not clean up after yourself.' The police chief seems more bothered about the commotion that criminals cause than the crimes themselves.
** She does however also do regular proper cleanup work together with some other cleaners. However mistakes, like leaving the mattress a decomposing bodies has been lying on, can still occur.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' — Bruno, a PunchClockVillain [[VillainsOutShopping with a loving family]] whose job it is to dispose of the victims and stolen cars of the Pandina terrorist organization. Captain Raballo makes a call for a "garbage truck" to dispose of the bodies of two subway hooligans killed by his cyborg in a training exercise.

* The first ''Comicbook/SinCity'' story actual depicts corrupt cops and federal agents as clean up crews. They pop up in two scenes and are promptly beaten down by the protagonist.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} expects a cleanup crew when he discovers the bodies of [[spoiler: John Hartigan and the Yelow Bastard]] in ''FanFic/ADarkKnightOverSinCity''. They arrive a few moments later, interrupting his fight with Kevin.

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7957228/1/ Who Needs Obliviators?]]'', a oneshot, addresses one of the various possible ways to "clean up" a scene of magic in the Harry Potter universe.

* ''Film/Underworld2003'': Alexander Corvinus leads a group of men, appropriately called The Cleaners, who cover up the evidence of lycans and vampires. They collect bodies, destroy evidence, and bribe eyewitnesses into staying silent. It's explicitly mentioned that they don't kill to cover it up. [[spoiler: They are all killed by Marcus in Evolution, [[BrokenMasquerade which is what probably led to humans learning of the existence of lycans and vampires in Awakening]]]]. The novelization explains that all of them come from special forces all over the world.

* In the novelization of ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', a cleanup crew enters Jules' and Dana's apartment as soon as the five college students drive away in their RV. [[spoiler: In this case, it's not dead bodies they're concealing, but any evidence as to where the five intended human sacrifices might have disappeared to.]]

* In the ''Series/AgentCarter'' episode [[Recap/AgentCarterS2E1TheLadyInTheLake "The Lady in the Lake"]], this is the side job of [[spoiler: [[DirtyCop LAPD Detective]] Andrew Henry]], dumping bodies and making "problems" disappear for people wealthy enough to pay.

* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', like [[Series/LaFemmeNikita its predecessor]], has Cleaners who kill and dispose of bodies on Division's orders, but it also has Reapers, Cleaners meant to deal with Division personnel. In episode 6, we learn that [[spoiler: Owen was once a Reaper, and one of his assignments was the murder of Nikita's fiance.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has Recovery Agents, they go after dead Freelancers, take their equipment and blow the body up.

* ''Literature/{{Duumvirate}}'', by necessity, is chock-full of these. There is always a cleanup crew. Always.

* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries''. The title character finds that befriending a spaceship with a powerful AI and drone units has advantages for this trope. After killing a CorruptCorporateExecutive and her bodyguards in "Artificial Condition", ART remote pilots the shuttle into a docking area, wipes its memory, sends a faked message from one of the dead men to lull the port authorities, and sends drones to clean and sterilize the shuttle.

* ''Film/EscapeRoom2019''. After Zoe goes insane and dies, a cleanup crew turns up to remove the body and the evidence of the DeathCourse. [[spoiler:Zoey is only faking her death and has anticipated this, stealing a gun from them so she can escape. However when Zoey leads the police there at the end of the movie, the [[ItWasThereISwear entire place is empty and they don't believe her]].]]

* Sawyer the Cleaner from ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is a cleaner who moonlights as an assassin when she needs to. Not nearly as subtle as most Cleaners on this page, particularly given her [[ChainsawGood weapon of choice]]; but then again, [[WretchedHive Roanapur]] seems to have an unofficial policy of 'do what you want, just don't leave bodies lying around; it's bad form to not clean up after yourself.'. The police chief seems more bothered about the commotion that criminals cause than the crimes themselves.

* ''Series/DeadLikeMe'': Referenced for BlackComedy when George, a rookie [[{{Psychopomp}} Grim Reaper]] with no legal identity, needs a place to stay. Mason takes her to an apartment whose mob-connected owner was just messily, lethally interrogated, then [[ComicallyMissingThePoint reassures her]] that the place will be spick-and-span once the mob's cleanup crew is done.

* ''[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Half-Life]]'': The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit or H.E.C.U. is sent by the government after the Resonance Cascade (the accident that unleashes the aliens from another universe) to fight off the invasion, but also to silence anyone who worked on the project. Most of them are not happy about it. And when they can't do the job, the government sends in Black Ops units who begin ''[[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder killing all the remaining H.E.C.U. forces as well]]''.