History Main / ComeAlone

* ''Film/{{Se7en}}''. John Doe says he will plead guilty to all crimes if detectives Mills and Somerset (and only these two) will accompany him to where he's left the bodies of his victims. Knowing he's planning to kill two more to make seven, the detectives take every precaution against a trap, only to find John Doe has something else planned.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. [[ComicBook/TheFalcon Sam Wilson]] only agrees to tell [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] where [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] is going if he agrees to "come alone and as a friend". Stark plays the trope straight but ends up fighting Steve anyway, when bringing others might have averted the conflict.
* ''Film/{{Ransom}}''. When Tom Mullen has to deliver the eponymous ransom, the kidnapper makes him jump into a swimming pool to deactivate any HiddenWire or TrackingDevice, then follow various other instructions to throw off any attempt to follow him. [[spoiler:The police are able to follow him to the ransom drop-off anyway.]]

* An EnforcedTrope in ''Film/DirtyHarry'', where Scorpio makes Inspector Callahan--who's delivering the ransom--rush from one public telephone to another so he can see if any other detectives are following him.

* On one ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode, Gibbs arrests a mob boss's son, and goes with an FBI agent to learn who the mob's mole is. The mob boss, of course, shows up with backup. Gibbs, of course, has det cord, which he wraps around the kid's neck, allowing him to kill him with the push of a button. The mole, is, of course, the FBI agent, who is shot by Gibbs' sniper when he tries to shoot Gibbs. Hilariously, the mob boss abandons his son to a few years in the pen, claiming it's good for developing character.

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-->'''Thrawn:''' I await your arrival, and (make no mistake) come alone. If you attempt ''any'' heroics, I ''will'' resume the bombardment and destroy your city, and then your friends.

* This happens all the time in ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi''. Villains demand Eikichi or Ryuji meet them in single (or occasionally double) combat. Of course, they always bring their own gangs, but the Onibaku win most of the time, due to ConservationOfNinjutsu and the fact that ''[[BloodKnight they're just]] [[CombatPragmatist that good]]''.

* In chapter 12 of ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'', Finn was apparently expecting this of Jackie during the HostageForMacGuffin exchange. However, he didn't actually ''say'' it, so the whole J-Team shows up.

* ''Film/FarewellMyLovely''. A man on the phone tells the PrivateDetective protagonist to come alone and unarmed. He takes a gun out of the drawer, and [[PrivateEyeMonologue informs us that when someone tells you that, it's time to bring a gun that works]].

* ''Series/ForeverKnight''. In "Hunters", a CopKiller is out to get Don Schanke. He moves his family to his cottage up North and goes into hiding, but then sees a message in the personal column of the newspaper from the killer setting up a meeting. The last part of the message tells him to come alone "or I'm going hunting at your cottage up north."

** First, A-Train holds Hughie Campbell's father hostage and gives this trope. When Hughie does turn up alone, he races round with his SuperSpeed and confirms that no-one else is there, then muses that, given that Hughie knows A-Train intends to kill him, he should have had a couple of cards up his sleeve. Turns out Hughie does: a sample of the SuperSerum that A-Train is addicted too, and Kimoko who appears while A-Train is distracted and breaks A-Train's leg. As he screams in agony, Hughie smugly exits the scene with "You know, you're right. It would have been stupid to come alone."

** And played straight in the second season premiere, "When She Was Bad". Xander immediately points out the unwritten next line in the message: "P.S.: ''It's a trap!''" [[spoiler: He's right, for the wrong reasons. Once Buffy departs to confront The Annointed One, vampires attack the library and kidnap Cordelia, Willow, and Jenny Calendar.]]

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. Jacuzzi comes alone. Then the rest of his gang comes alone. But they bust in together. [[spoiler:And then Claire comes alone with them. ]]
-->'''[[CloudCuckoolander Graham Specter]]''': I don't know how I can argue with that logic.

* ''Film/ColdPursuit''. When Nels kidnaps Viking's son, he calls the gangster and tells him to come along, causing Viking to snap: "Yeah, yeah I know how it's done!" He doesn't, of course.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. When Oliver Queen discovers that Malcolm Merlyn is [[NotQuiteDead alive]] and back in Starling City, he agrees to meet Oliver in a crowded plaza--not because he's afraid of the Arrow but because it's not in his interest for them to fight at this time.

* In ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'', [[BigBad the Evil Queen]] meets with [[UnfortunateNames Relish]] [[TheStarscream the Troll King]], telling him to "come alone and unarmed" or she would slit his children's throats. Of course he doesn't, instead coming an hour early and hiding his men among the trees of the apple orchard. Not to be outdone, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the solitary Queen was there two hours early and poisoned all the apples]].

** First, A-Train holds Hughie Campbell's father hostage and gives this trope. When Hughie does turn up alone, he races round with his SuperSpeed and confirms that no-one else is there, then muses that Hughie should have had a couple of cards up his sleeve. Turns out Hughie does: a sample of the SuperSerum that A-Train is addicted too, and Kimoko who appears while A-Train is distracted and breaks A-Train's leg. As he screams in agony, Hughie smugly exits the scene with "You know, you're right. It would have been stupid to come alone."

* ''Film/FarewellMyLovely''. A man on the phone tells the PrivateEye protagonist to come alone and unarmed. He takes a gun out of the drawer, and [[PrivateEyeMonologue informs us that when someone tells you that, it's time to bring a gun that works]].

* On ''Series/{{Charmed}}'', the Halliwell Sisters found themselves in the position of arranging a supposedly peaceful meeting with some demons, and it seemed like it would be safe to arrange it in a crowded restaurant. However, the demons' cheated on their agreement to come alone, and in fact they replaced ''every single person in the restaurant'' with a demon.