Free Labor

 is a Fallout 3 quest and achievement that is added to the game in The Pitt add-on.

Retrieve your gear
As soon as you complete the three rounds in The Hole (see its page for detailed info on each round), Krenshaw arrives to tell you that you are free and that Ashur wishes to talk to you in Uptown. Then you are able to retrieve your equipment from the footlocker in the middle of the room and head to Ashur.

Speak to Ashur in Haven
Once there, Ashur asks you to kill Wernher because he's been rallying the slaves and a riot would result in meaningless death. If you pass a Speech challenge you can tell Ashur that you never met Wernher, or that you didn't like his looks. He will tell you about the cure and even ask you to speak with his wife to know more. After that you must decide either join him or refuse his offer. Here you can either decide to go and kill Wernher, kill Ashur or wait until he is called away and investigate Haven for the cure.

Take care of Wernher
If you choose to leave the "cure" or kill Wernher (both have no effect on Karma if done correctly), slaves will be rioting all through The Pitt. Killing them will cause Karma loss, but they are easily avoided as most are equipped with Auto Axes or Steel Saws.

Wernher may be located by talking to Midea or reading any number of the notes located in her quarters. He is found in his hideout, accessed through a door in the Steelyard which was previously inaccessible. You can either ask Wernher to leave forever by passing a Speech check, using the Black Widow perk or killing him for no Karma loss if Wernher shoots first. If a Speech check is used to persuade Wernher to flee, the key to The Pitt Underground will be on the table with various scientific instruments.

Aftermath
For a reward you gain access to the Ammo Press and are given a quest to collect and return Teddy Bears to Sandra. Also gives you access to continue collecting Steel Ingots for Everett, and the perk Booster Shot, which increases rad resistance.

Bring the cure to Wernher
To side with Wernher, you need to either kill Ashur directly or wait until he is called away and steal the cure. Either way, you will be attacked by Ashur's wife and the Raiders. After making your way out of Haven, you will then find a fight between slaves and raiders. Make your way back to Midea's Quarters, where she will ask you to show her the cure, revealing she knew it was a baby all along. She will give you a note telling you that Wernher has everything arranged and is waiting for you in his hideout inside the Steelyard. After you talk with him and hand over Marie, he will tell you that you must find the "Floodlight Control" and shut down the floodlights which are preventing the Trogs from attacking Uptown.

Shut off Uptown's floodlights
After you are done talking to Wernher, he will give you a Stealth Boy. If you have the Black Widow perk it is possible to get a few Stimpaks from Wernher. Leave Wernher's Hideout and go to the Underground entrance located at the opposite side of the tracks from the Supply Plant. Enter via a manhole at the very end of the train tracks, similar to the one in Paradise Falls (if you took the secret way when rescuing the children). Once inside there's around two dozen Trogs to fight, along with a Protectron which can be activated to help kill them.

Make your way to a terminal where you can shut off the floodlights. When you finish, exit near the entrance to the Haven's yard.

Deal with Ashur
Here you will be confronted by Lord Ashur and Sandra (if she survived her initial encounter with the player), who quickly become hostile and attack the player. You can kill Ashur and loot his body (he drops his unique Power Armor as well as the key to the Pitt Underground) or leave him to his fate: if you avoid fighting Ashur, a horde of Trogs will swarm the Haven courtyard and engage Ashur and any of his surviving Pitt Raiders in combat.

Aftermath
If you kill Ashur and return to Midea's house, you will find Wernher outside. He tells you that he will be reorganizing the city and that you should spread the word out of The Pitt in order to get more workers down in the Mill. He also tells you that you earned your share of the Ammo Press, and that if you want you can gather Steel Ingots and give them to the foreman in exchange for gear (a continuation of the Mill Worker quest), and the perk Booster Shot, which increases rad resistance.

As a reward, you gain access to the Ammo Press and are given a quest to collect and return Teddy Bears to Midea. Since Ashur is dead, Wernher will make you the new leader of The Pitt. He will begin to call you boss.

Bugs

 * Wernher may also randomly become hostile if you exit the Mill to return to the market to complete the quest. If you fight him he simply goes unconscious then regains full health and attacks you again. Instead run past him into Midea's room (sometimes he'll follow you in though) and then wait and go out again - by that time he should have killed all the Pitt bosses in the market and calmed down. (confirmed Xbox 360)


 * After leaving the Haven, during the raiders vs slaves event, bodies of fallen NPCs will randomly disappear. (confirmed XBox 360)I have also had this happen on the PS3.


 * On the PS3 version I sided with Ashur and the slaves are randomly vanishing during the big fight against the raiders. They are still physically there as I can take damage and I can still lock onto them with VATS; it's like fighting ghosts. They still show up on as red ticks on the compass and their bodies reappear upon death. Using VATS causes the screen to zoom into the slaves much more than usual; selecting the head causes their heads to take up the entire screen. This can be seen only because the colored selection is visible even while their heads are not.


 * Sometimes Ashur can not be talked to when you meet him in Haven; this means you can not take the baby (confirmed PS3). After attacking Ashur or his wife you can kidnap the baby though and the plot continues normally with the slaves revolt. UPDATE: If you run into this bug try the following in the console (PC) this will reset the quest. (confirmed), If the previous ID cannot be found try 0100108d.


 * In the north/east corner of The Pitt underground area after you walk down the ramp, where the frag mines, cones and toilet are, the game will occasionally lock up requiring you to restart the console.(confirmed XBox 360)


 * If you have not previously killed Ashur after leaving the underground area he is waiting for you outside, After he attacks you, sometimes the game will lock up requiring you to restart the console.(confirmed XBox 360)


 * Sometimes Wernher turns hostile upon entering his hideout while equipped with a weapon. Went in and out a few times thinking it was a bug and he still attacked. Exited, removed equipped weapon, and walked back in unarmed. Dialogue and quest resumed normally. (unconfirmed). Alternatively, you can use a stealth boy to become hidden, sometimes causing Wernher to become friendly once again and thus enabling regular quest dialog. (unconfirmed).
 * I was ambushed by a pair of hostile slaves using Steel Saws in the Steel Mill, long after the riot had ended.
 * Feydra didn't turn hostile during riot
 * Occasionally Ashur won't show up at the floodlight switch but Wernher will still talk as if you killed him.
 * If before going to Haven and talking to Ashur, you fast travel to the Train Yard, Wernher will be at the gate that leads to the bridge and his dialog will be as if you sided with Ashur. He will then go hostile. If you kill him the quest will tell you to return to Ashur. (XBox)


 * Game can freeze often during Free Labor on PS3. Normally fixed by reboot or reload.