Sydney

 is a relic hunter the player will meet when hunting for the Declaration of Independence, during which the player has the option of recruiting her as a temporary follower. If she survives the quest and gets to Rivet City, she will retire from relic hunting and become an ammunition vendor in Underworld. If you get into a fight in the Underworld, Sydney will fight alongside you.

Sydney's Father Quest
In the Statesman Hotel (Mid Level) (rescuing Reilly's Rangers) you'll find A Note from Little Moonbeam's Father, which is directed to Sydney from her father. Show the Holodisk to her and she will give you her Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG and a supply of ammo.

Equipment

 * Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG (unique SMG, 59 DAM at 100% CND)
 * Combat Armor
 * Several Frag Grenades (she has a limited supply, and will quickly use them up after her first few combats).
 * There is also an ammo supply in the Ninth Circle that belongs to Sydney. It requires her key. The items contained are whatever she has for sale as well as her current amount of caps.

Problems
Sydney will sometimes be found dead in Anacostia Metro Station during her post-quest journey from Rivet City to Underworld, apparently killed by a Raider. Though the task is painfully dull, it is advised that you escort her (if you find her alive in Anacostia Metro Station) if you want to have a sure opportunity to buy ammo from her later. (She takes 10 minutes to walk from the bridge of Rivet City to the museum. Don't get too close to her on her travel as she will stop and try to engage you in conversation, thus making the journey longer.) WARNING: make sure that you give Sydney a few stimpacks before you complete the quest. Her health needs to be high. If you choose to escort her and she is crippled, the trip will at least double in length. Stimpacks cannot be given after completing the quest!

The alternative to holding her hand through the tunnels (she walks so slowly) is to clear them in advance. Starting at Anacostia Metro Station make your way up the Red Line north to the Museum Station exit. Turn your light and your radio on to draw all the creeps out of the corners, bust heads all the way through and there will be nothing left for Sydney to encounter. If you haven't already, you can still clear the lines directly after handing in the quest, head to Anacostia Metro Station (she should already be there), rush in ahead of her, fight your way down the line, come out at the museum exit and then shoot up any mutants that spawned in the mall bunker-zone and you're set.

A simpler method is to clear the path first, then simply wait an hour or two once you know she's in the area to speed her along.

Appearances
only appears in Fallout 3.

Trivia
is based on character Sydney Fox from the TV show Relic Hunter.

Sydney may be a former BoS Paladin. If you assault her she will say things that indicate affiliation with the BoS. She may even say so if you assault her. (May be based off Sentinel Lyons.)

Bugs

 * Even after giving Sydney the holotape from her father, she still hopes he "got what he deserved" in the wastes.

Glitch / Exploit
This is not a bug; If you complete the quest without her, she will not be in the National Archives after a certain period of time,, but you may encounter her one day in a random mini encounter, in the Capitol Wasteland. Since you claimed her side of the reward from Abraham Washington, she will be immediately hostile to you.
 * It is confirmed that If you do not talk to Sydney prior to finding the Declaration of Independence she will disappear from the hall at National Archives. You will still get the mission to fend off mutants if you approach her position (The Super Mutants will spawn.) She won't be at Rivet City / Underworld or somewhere else after that.

''-Note- On the PC version I did not talk to Sydney, but retrieved the Declaration of Independence alone. When I approached her, the Super Mutants spawned. When she joined me, the Declaration disappeared from my inventory and reappeared in the safe where I had to get it another time.''

''-Note- On the XBOX version I did not talk to Sydney, but retrieved the Declaration of Independence alone. When I returned much later, she was nowhere in sight, no corpse, no Super Mutants, not in Rivet City or Underworld.''

On the PC version, you can use the console to reset Sydney so she appears in the rotunda after the fight in the rotunda. These commands were taken from the fix for the Big Town robot quest bug (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Trouble_in_Big_Town#Robots) You can then talk to her and continue the quest. If you've already picked up the Declaration of Independence, you'll need to use more console commands to remove and then add the quest item to your inventory to trigger completion of the next step of the quest. After that, you should be able to complete the rest of the quest normally unless you got the forged declaration of independence, in that case you can't complete the entire quest anymore. It is also possible by refusing her proposal to bug the Stealing Independence quest. ''-Note- You can meet her in the wasteland in a random encounter, but she will not cooperate in the natural way, but may become hostile instead. To reset, use the console.''
 * PRID 3a77
 * kill
 * resurrect
 * disable
 * enable
 * player.removeitem 3a7f 1
 * player.additem 3a7f 1
 * After dealing with super mutants in National Archives and then refusing her proposal to cooperate she will leave the area and usually is nowhere to be found (not every time).
 * Sometimes, she does not have her key.
 * When Sydney is following you as a companion, outside of combat, she will frequently go into an unarmed stance with her Ultra SMG still equipped. The gun's model will float a small distance from Sydney's gunhand.

Unlimited SMGs glitch
There is a game exploit to be able to keep acquiring as many 10mm Ultra SMGs from Sydney in perfect condition as much as desired. This can be useful if the player can not find any other SMGs to repair Sydney's 10mm Ultra SMG with by simply acquiring a brand new one (and repairing the newer ones with the older ones). Also, if you are low on caps, you can use this exploit to acquire tons of SMGs from Sydney which have a large value.

The process of acquiring more Ultra SMGs from Sydney is through a dialogue choice that is hidden at first, but unlocked by activating a previous dialogue choice. The order of choices to pick is listed below in order.


 * 1) Since we're done now, why don't you tell me about yourself?
 * 2) Nice gun. I've never seen one like that.
 * 3) That's all for now, I guess.
 * 4) So, whatever happened to your father?
 * 5) Sydney, I found a note from your father. He didn't abandon you.

Congratulations, you just got another free 10mm Ultra SMG.


 * Note that switching from one instance of Sydney's 10mm "Ultra" SMG to another in your inventory has been noted to cause the game to crash for some people on the Xbox 360 version.

Exploit
If you wish to keep her as an extra NPC you can do so easily. She will stay with you as long as you do not complete the Stealing Independence Quest. So do not return to Abraham Washington.
 * A few drawbacks with her as an NPC:
 * She cannot be equipped with any new weapons or armor (although her default 10mm SMG and Combat Armor are pretty good equipment).
 * She cannot be given any items to hold.
 * She can die permanently (which has the benefit of your being able to pick up her 10mm SMG and Combat Armor).
 * She cannot be told to change tactics.
 * Although she can initially be told to wait, she will refuse to obey this order if you are holding the Declaration of Independence.
 * Although she has more health than a Talon Company Merc or Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, she's still less durable than a normal NPC companion and can be downed relatively easily.
 * Unlike real followers, she does not heal to full at the end of a successful battle. You can still give her stimpaks by talking to her, which she will use immediately.
 * Her limbs cannot be healed with stimpaks, so if she gets crippled (which is inevitable after she takes enough damage), she'll be so permanently. (Note: On PS3 version, I was able to heal here crippled legs by giving her stimpacks after accidently shooting her with a dart gun.)
 * Unlike with permanent NPC followers, the game will not inform you if Sydney dies. It is possible to lose track of her and not realize she has been killed, especially in large firefights or if she gets seperated from you by a large distance.
 * Sydney remains in Vault 87 if she is following the player when they are captured by the Enclave, which forces you to return to Vault 87 and retrieve her after escaping. It's best not to bring her into Vault 87, instead asking her to wait somewhere you can easily retrieve her (i.e. inside your house in Megaton/Tenpenny Towers, or simply in front of the Little Lamplight entrance).

Equip Sydney
It is possible to 2 ways:
 * 1) Reverse pickpocket Sydney just after the Rotunda fight, but before the next conversation. Give her armor and weapons, then have her join your party. She will use Power Armor. Note that Sydney will not equip any of the items you have placed into her inventory until you give her a Stimpak using her conversation menu.
 * 2) Or to equip Sydney with armor through console commands, one must type the following:
 * prid 00003a77                <-- to select Sydney.
 * additem (armor item code) 1" <-- this step may be done several times for different parts.
 * inv                          <-- to check her inventory
 * If you do not know the armor codes, select a character (yourself or companion NPC) who does have the desired armor you wish to put on her and check their inventory through the console commands:
 * prid (character ID) <-- to select character.
 * inv                 <-- to show items character has with their ID code numbers.