Stealing Independence

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also a PC and Xbox 360 achievement and a PlayStation 3 trophy.

Abraham Washington in Rivet City wants you to retrieve the Declaration of Independence for him to display in the Capitol Preservation Society.

Walkthrough
Abraham Washington in Rivet City tells you to go to the National Archives to get the Declaration of Independence.

To get to the National Archives from Rivet City, enter the nearby Anacostia Metro Station, and make your way through Museum Station to The Mall. Be careful, as these tunnels are populated by Raiders, Mirelurks, Feral Ghouls and Super Mutants. You can look at the world map view on your trusty Pip Boy to see the usual line of dots that will give you a general idea of where to go. The signs with the map of the metro station connections can be helpful, as many areas that cannot be reached from the surface are accessible through the metro.

When you get to The National Archives you'll find Sydney in the rotunda on the first floor. She was also sent by Abraham Washington to get the Declaration of Independence before you, but never returned. Be careful as you approach her because she mined the room, and you'll lose karma if you take her mines before speaking with her (you can disarm without karma penalty).

Slink through the mines she's laid and she'll ask you to assist her in holding off two waves of Super Mutants. Once you kill about 4-6 Super Mutants you'll be able to start a dialogue with her and she'll ask to partner up with you to find the declaration. If you agree, she will fight by your side until this quest is completed or she dies, whichever comes first.

Options
From this point you can pursue several paths:


 * Forget Sydney. You can decline her offer of support and find the document without her.  If you choose this route, you can just let her be or kill her and take Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG from her corpse.


 * Accept her offer and either pursue the document immediately or retain her services as a sidekick while you do other things. For example, if you haven't yet done so, you may wish to...
 * Complete the Reilly's Rangers (quest) and obtain a voice tape from the Statesman Hotel that will enable you to get Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG without her having to die or pickpocketing her. When exiting The National Archives simply fast travel to Rivet City and Sydney will be transported with you.
 * Complete the part of the The Wasteland Survival Guide quest that requires you to go to the Arlington Library, and while you're there, be sure to grab the Ink Container, which you may need depending on how you want to end this quest.

If you take Sydney with you, she will tell you that she has hacked a secret elevator that will get you very close to the Declaration's location. Interact with the computer terminal where you found her, which will trigger a secret elevator to appear in front of you.
 * This will drop you into the Secure Wing of the The National Archives. Head north and you will have to fight/sneak past a number of robots. In the first room is a broken door that is automatically repaired with Science better than 67%. In this room is the power generator for the turrets guarding the various documents (Sydney will point this out to you if she is with you). There are several Hard and Very Hard Locked Doors and significant gas leaks. You'll need to micro-manage Sydney so you don't get immolated. The best way to do this is to clear out almost the entire building without entering the area where Sydney is located. Just make sure that before entering the room where Button Gwinnett is located you go back and team up with Sydney. Then simply use the secret elevator to skip the return journey.

If you don't take Sydney's help, or if you just want a longer quest, forget about the secret elevator and take the long way to the Declaration.
 * Be careful as you advance through the first floor of The National Archives because there are booby traps and Super Mutants. In one of the big rooms you'll find double wooden doors under an exit sign. That will be labeled as the Archives Stronghold and will actually be an elevator that will take you to the stronghold with a computer terminal and a bunch of robot containers and computer terminals next to them. You can use the computer terminal to unlock all the security doors.

Regardless of which path you choose, you'll eventually be approached by a robot that has been programmed as the second signer of the declaration Button Gwinnett.

More Options
Once you have been approached by Button Gwinnett, you can...


 * Blow him and his turrets to smithereens (costs Karma)
 * throwing a Pulse or frag Grenade from behind the turrets will kill Button without making the turrets hostile towards you.(bschaff18) [Confirmed joshnosh 11]
 * With the Robotics Expert perk you are able to skip the talk sequence and override Button Gwinnett's faulty programming, enabling an immediate Shutdown (plus Passcode).
 * Trick him (with Speech) that you're Thomas Jefferson and tell him to stand down. The original Declaration of Independence is in the safe in the room behind him.
 * Take his offer of a sub-quest to find some ink in Arlington Library so he'd be able to forge the Declaration of Independence.
 * The ink can be found somewhere in Arlington Library.

Making him think you're Thomas Jefferson or completing the sub-quest for the ink will grant you addition conversation option with Button Gwinnett. You can order him to Regardless of how you choose to deal with Button, you can use the computer at his desk to unlock the doors in the room, open the fenced off area behind Button (the one with three safes) and you'll find the real declaration (even if you told Button to keep it safe).
 * "Keep the Declaration safe... don't let anyone take it." (grants Karma)
 * "Do whatever you want... I'm out of here."
 * "Blow yourself up". (costs Karma)

Still More Options
At this point you either have the real Declaration of Independence or a copy of it.

To get out, you can...


 * Go back the way you came, perhaps using the secret elevator again.
 * Go through the Utility Door to the right of Button (which leads to a room with Protectron containers) and then to the main floor.
 * Fight your way back up the stairs. If you killed Button Gwinnett, there will be a bunch of robots trying to stop you.
 * On your way up you can find the The Bill of Rights on one of the floors in the fenced off area with a safe inside (next to a Lying, Congressional Style. You can also find the Magna Carta directly across from where you found The Bill of Rights. Both can be sold to Abraham Washington (100 caps for the The Bill of Rights, 75 for the Magna Carta).

Notable Loot

 * Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG
 * Button's Wig
 * 5 Stealth Boys (Possibly six, I found three in a wardrobe and three in a desk.)
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor
 * Lying, Congressional Style
 * Railway Rifle Schematic
 * Sheet Music Book

Bugs

 * If you find the Ink Container prior to speaking with Button and do not make the choice of forging the Declaration, the container will remain a quest item and an undroppable 1 weight from your inventory. It becomes droppable if you give A.W. the Declaration copy.
 * On the PC version, it stays in your inventory even when you make the choice (for removing it type "player.removeitem 00003AA2 1").
 * Bug Fix: I accidentally found a fix for this bug, but I don't know which of the two ways fixed it. I disabled Button, basically killing him and then I took the real Declaration of Independence after unlocking the door with the password I obtained from his body.
 * On the PC version, some people have reported being unable to complete the quest when you talk to Abraham with the Declaration in your inventory. A reported fix is to type "ResetQuest 00014EA2" into the console and then talk to Abraham again.
 * If you go to the statesman Hotel and take the elevator to the roof, Sydney will disappear and not come back. Thus making it impossible to get her smg*
 * Sometimes if you kill Sydney, her body will glitch all over the place and her dead body will start stretching and start bouncing off walls.

Behind the scenes

 * Sydney the Relic Hunter, is a reference to the Relic Hunter television show.