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For other iterations of this character, see Brian Irons (disambiguation).
"Sherry!? I've been looking everywhere for you Sherry...Brave little girl to leave her house in the middle of this mess..."
— Irons after confronting Sherry Birkin and Claire Redfield at the Parking Garage of the Raccoon Police Station

Brian Irons (ブライアン・アイアンズ Buraian Aianzu?) was a Raccoon City police officer and Chief of Police of the Raccoon Police Department until 1998. Despite his position, Irons was deeply involved in corporate corruption like other city officials, and took bribes from Umbrella U.S.A. to keep the company out of investigations. During the 1998 Raccoon City Destruction Incident, Irons suffered a mental breakdown and began killing fellow officers and refugees, and was killed violently either by Dr. William Birkin or a G parasite. Irons also had a violent history with women and is suspected of having been a serial killer, though due to his position in the RPD and the destruction of the city, these murders were never formally investigated.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Before his police career, Irons is known to have gone through a university education. He was put under psychiatric examination after two incidents in which he was accused of violent aggression and sexual assault towards female students. Due to his excellent academic performance, however, these incidents were not criminally investigated.[2][note 1]

Chief of Police[]

Brian Irons Raccoon Monthly, June Issue

Brian Irons at a press conference, already serving as chief of police.

Irons made a career in the Raccoon Police Department, and by early 1996 reached the rank of Chief of Police. Later contributions for the RPD on his behalf (and gain) would include the purchase of a recently retired art museum for its strategic location and parking space, a budget move allowing for funding of equipment for the force and collections of artistic works, which Irons claimed would also "help out with combating crime."[3]

This position put him in a very close relationship with Umbrella USA, the American subsidiary of the Umbrella Corporation, a company which was not only a major employer in the city, but was also performing top-secret military bioweapons research involving illegal human testing in violation of the 1972 Bioweapons Convention. Furthermore, this relationship with Umbrella led to him forming acquaintances and frendships with individual Umbrella employees. For instance, every month starting from April 1996, Chief Irons received between $1,500 and $15,000 from Umbrella virologist Dr. Annette Birkin, which he used to fund his art habit; he would distribute pieces of his collection throughout the police station.[4][5] Similarly, Annette's husband and fellow Umbrella virologist, Dr. William Birkin, trusted Irons with stationing some of his officers in the Raccoon City sewers to provide security in the areas leading to Umbrella's underground NEST research facility.[6] Irons was also placed in charge of the Raccoon City Orphanage to disguise Umbrella's use of child test subjects.[7][8] On the 6th and 16th of every month, he visited Umbrella's top-secret facilities to hold meetings with Umbrella's Raccoon City facility heads and, if needed, was expected to use the police force to prevent Umbrella's illegal research from being exposed to the public.[9] Irons was also good friends with Umbrella biologist Dr. Nathaniel Bard and United States Senator Greg Tester, often engaging with the two and acting as a facilitator of deals which they conducted in secret.[10]

Under Chief Irons' watch, Umbrella donations led to the creation of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, an elite law enforcement team comprised of scientists and ex-military personnel who could use their expertise to solve cases the rest of the RPD was not qualified or experienced to handle. Led by Dr. Albert Wesker, an Umbrella intelligence agent, S.T.A.R.S. was effectively Umbrella's private army. Whether or not Chief Irons knew Dr. Wesker was an Umbrella agent is unknown. To maintain power and avert suspicion of his illegal activities, Irons presented a picture-perfect public image to the people of Raccoon City, bolstered by fluff news stories and philanthropy work.[10][11]

Serial killings[]

Taxidermy room (12)

Irons's secret Taxidermy Room.

Chief Irons harbored violent tendencies throughout his life, and did not hold these back during his time with the RPD, becoming increasingly mentally-unhinged. Irons is known to have threatened and committed a number of murders while with the RPD, though the identity of these victims is largely unknown. The earliest known possible victim was his secretary, who he hired in April 1998 and who disappeared the following June after uncovering evidence of bribes.[12] An Umbrella sewer facility manager was almost killed in August, when Irons threatened him with a gun after becoming enraged over a simple joke.[13] In August and September, a total of eight young women were snatched from the streets and apparently murdered in the city's sewers, though no bodies were found by RPD search parties. All were described in local papers as being unmarried blonde women between the ages of 18 and 23.[14]

Taxidermy was a hobby of Irons' - a fact that was evident in the decor of his office. At some point, he moved on from animal subjects to human ones, and is known to have used a secret room for the killing of his victims, using his experience to remove organs and bones for use as trophies. His possession of chloroform indicates not all victims would have been dead when cut open.

Mansion Incident[]

In May 1998, the mountain-based Arklay Laboratory fell to a t-Virus outbreak, and in spite of its security personnel, mutants escaped and began killing a number of hikers and Raccoon City denizens on the city outskirts. Irons became highly stressed as a result of these attacks and Umbrella's failure to counter them, and was continually briefed by the Birkins as to the developments as well as their ongoing strain with the company. By July 1998, Umbrella and the RPD had both respectively failed to contain and explain the deaths, and the case was handed over to S.T.A.R.S. Between July 23 and 25, a total of seven S.T.A.R.S. officers, including Dr. Wesker and RPD pilot Kevin Dooley, were reported dead and the laboratory itself was ultimately destroyed in what came to be known as the Mansion Incident.

20170316 213607

Chief Irons in discussion as S.T.A.R.S. members.

Though S.T.A.R.S. survivors Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers and Brad Vickers bore witness in various degrees to Umbrella's research and uncovered the truth behind the attacks, most of the evidence was lost in the laboratory's explosion. On the advice of Dr. William Birkin, Chief Irons had S.T.A.R.S. shut down to prevent them from investigating the company and kept a close eye on their activities.[15] While it was too late to stop them telling the townspeople about their experiences, it was believed that the quiet destruction of leftover evidence would prevent anyone from believing them.[16]

Raccoon City Destruction Incident and Death[]

By September 1998, the t-Virus made its way into the city through a number of channels. At the start of the month, Chief Irons' side of the deal worked the same, receiving a $10,000 bribe to prevent any police investigation of the city's underground, which was becoming an inevitability.[16] Things quickly began to change over the month, when the Birkins reported their suspicions of a plot by Umbrella HQ to recover Golgotha from their lab. Irons was ordered to thoroughly search the city for suspicious individuals and hand them over to the Birkins for execution.[16] Further pressured to keep all evidence and potential witnesses from leading information back to both him and Umbrella by third party sources, Irons would further incarcerate reporter and activist Ben Bertolucci upon his interview turned interrogation with Annette Birkin, help lead Umbrella agents to the whereabouts of News Comet hacktivist reporter January Van Sant, and placed Jill Valentine under a month of house arrest and surveillance to ensure her investigations would be halted and Umbrella would be able to neutralize her without any difficulty.

Irons about to kill Katherine The Ghost Survivors

Irons about to kill Katherine.

On 23 September, Irons was alerted to the leak of the t-Virus into the city's water supply. Overcome with this news, Irons finally broke down mentally. Believing himself to be infected, he began giving confusing orders to the police officers to ensure that the entire precinct die with him. These orders included the looting of the arms locker and dispersal of arms to points across the building, which deprived officers of guns when those areas were overrun by Zombies. Irons is also known to have hunted down survivors to speed up the process, with one account claiming he shot one police officer, Ed, in the heart.[17] Another victim of Irons' rampage was Katherine Warren, daughter of Raccoon City mayor Michael Warren, who had fled town without her. She was killed on the night of 29 September. Though accounts differ as to if she was killed in the Raccoon Police Station or the Raccoon City Orphanage, it is agreed he planned to turn her into taxidermy.

RE2make Chief Irons Death

"G" embryo bursts out of Irons chest.

Accounts as to how Chief Irons died are contradictory. In one account, he abducted the Birkins' daughter, Sherry, from the police station intent on retrieving her pendant. He forced another survivor, Claire Redfield, to bring the pendant to the orphanage when he realized she had dropped it. While there, he caught Sherry trying to escape and was splashed in the face with formaldehyde. While chasing her he was attacked by William, who had mutated from Golgotha infection, and planted a G-embryo in his throat. When Claire arrived with the pendant, he was killed in front of her when the embryo bursts off of Irons' torso. In two other accounts, Irons absconded from the Raccoon Police Station with Warren's body to his killing room. There he was attacked by Dr. Birkin, either tearing him apart or implanting him with an embryo. In all three accounts he died in front of Redfield.

Sources[]

Notes
  1. While the English localization identifies Irons as a rapist, the original Japanese script is much vaguer, only describing Irons as being involved in acts of violence.
References
  1. Resident Evil 2 (2019)
  2. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Mail to Chris".
  3. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2010), "Marvin's Memo".
  4. Resident Evil 2 (1998), "Secret file".
  5. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Secretary's diary A".
  6. Resident Evil 2 (2019), file: "Copy of Emails to Chief Irons".
  7. Resident Evil 2 (2019), file: "Letter from the Director".
  8. Resident Evil 2 (2019), file: "Sally's Diary".
  9. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Sewer manager fax".
  10. 10.0 10.1 Resident Evil 3 (2020), file: "Banquet Invitation".
  11. Resident Evil 2 (2019), file: "Raccoon Monthly, June Issue".
  12. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Secretary's diary B".
  13. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Sewer manager diary".
  14. Resident Evil Outbreak (2003), file: "Raccoon Today".
  15. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2007), "Raccoon City Police Department"
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Mail to the chief".
  17. Resident Evil 2 (1998), file: "Chief's Diary".
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