The Pacific City Archives

**Crackdown 2: The Pacific City Archives** is a video webcomic series released for *Crackdown 2*. The episodes are told in the perspective of the Agency Director, who bridges the gap between the original *Crackdown* and its sequel by discussing the rise of Cell and the growing threat of the Freak epidemic in Pacific City.

There are a total of 5 episodes. All episodes of the Pacific City Archives are available to download for free on the Xbox 360 marketplace. They are also available to watch online via YouTube.

## Plot

### Episode 1: Home Truths

Pacific City is in turmoil, and many of its citizens have set up shanties outside of town. The Agency's forces are heavily outnumbered by Cell insurrectionists, and mutated Freaks terrorize the city streets by night. The episode concludes with the Agency Director laying the basis on Cell's leader Catalina Thorne, setting up for the next episode.

### Episode 2: Evil Seed

Years ago, Catalina Thorne was a med school student who was hired by the Agency as a research assistant. Despite Catalina's dedication to her work, suspicions grew in the Agency as research materials began to go missing. It became clear to the Agency that Catalina was using the stolen materials to conduct her own experiments. Catalina was soon fired and arrested, which caused her to grow bitter and vengeful against the Agency.

Sometime later, the Agency's cloning labs were breached and the Agents were infected with a virus causing them to be uncontrollable mutated monsters. The mutated Agents died within hours. This sabotage caused the Agency's superhuman modifications program to be set back to square one, thus taking years to develop and refine a new batch of Agents into Pacific City.

Catalina Thorne's plot took shape, and soon her attention drew to the citizens of Unity Heights by setting up a medical station at the old P.C.N. Institute of Research. The Agency alledge that Thorne unleashed her virus onto the citizens of Pacific City, causing people to mutate into mindless zombie-like creatures called Freaks.

### Episode 3: The Virus

This episode is framed as a public information film doctored by the Agency to demonstrate the symptoms of a civilian infected with the Freak virus, and telling its viewers to contact Peacekeepers if a person shows signs of infection. The episode also showcases the uncontrolled rapid mutations caused by the virus, the Freaks sensitivity to sunlight as well as some possible solutions when in danger of Freaks at night. Finally, the Agency Director assures the viewers that a possible antidote is being worked on by scientists and quells rumours from Cell and citizens by saying that there is no antidote.

### Episode 4: The Cell

Soon after the Gang Wars, Pacific City enjoyed a brief period of peace, allowing the Agency to identify any criminal behavior and put an end to it. Once the Freak epidemic hit Pacific City, criminal activity began to rise at incremental levels. Since there were no Agents to be dispatched on the field, much of these crimes were deprioritized by the Agency.

Around this time, Catalina Thorne rallied several civilians to protest against the Agency and formed a pressure group called Cell. These protests eventually grew larger and more violent, Catalina's Cell lieutenants would work to hinder the Agency's operations. As Peacekeepers would defend the wall containing northern Unity Heights from onslaughts of Freaks, they would be lobbied against by civilians and Cell members afterwards. Eventually after the Sunburst Defense System was announced, Catalina Thorne ordered her group to bear arms and fight against the Agency.

### Episode 5: A New Dawn

After the Freak virus ravaged Pacific City, the Agency launched forward their plans to initiate the Sunburst Defense System.