Mister Burke

Mister Burke is a mysterious man who can be met in Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton. He is the sinister right-hand man of Allistair Tenpenny. Tenpenny wanted the town of Megaton destroyed by detonating the bomb in 2277. Burke obliged by hiring the Lone Wanderer to set the bomb. However, it is not known whether he is truly under the control of Tenpenny, or if he is manipulating his employer toward his own ends.

Background
Burke was born in 2221. Little more is known about him, but he may have come from a criminal background.

Daily schedule
He can be found sitting on a chair in Moriarty's Saloon before the start of the The Power of the Atom (quest) after the PC starts it and puts the fuse charge in the nuke; he will then go back to Tenpenny Tower. He will stay seated until either you agree to detonate the bomb or if you disarm it for Lucas Simms, the town sheriff. If you disarm it, he will leave Moriarty's saloon and enter his house.

Interactions with the player character
He can give the Lone Wanderer access to Tenpenny Tower in exchange for installing a Fusion Pulse Charge inside Megaton's bomb.

If the player does not follow Mr. Burke's method of completing this quest, Talon Company hitmen may show up at random encounters, and try to kill him/her. If the player loots their bodies, they will find contracts to hunt and kill them, signed by Burke. This is different, however, from Talon Company mercenaries, who will come after the player when they have good Karma, regardless of their actions in Megaton.

Female players with 'black widow' perk get two special dialog options with Burke - they can claim they live in Megaton and Burke will change his plans, or they can persuade him to pay an extra 500 caps for rigging the bomb without the need to pass a speech check.

The Power of the Atom quest is still available from Burke even if Roy Phillips has killed Alistair Tenpenny and taken over Tenpenny Tower. After installing the Fusion Pulse Charge and traveling to Tenpenny Towers, the player will find Roy Phillips and Mr. Burke speaking on Tenpenny's balcony. Phillips is intimidated by Burke and his ability to infiltrate the Ghoul-controlled Tower, and allows Burke to detonate the bomb and destroy Megaton. This act impresses Phillips so much that he hires Burke as his new right-hand man.


 * He can be enslaved with the Mesmetron but will try to escape immediately setting off his collar. This is not recommended; the player will then have to pay for a new collar.

Quotes

 * "You should be proud of your accomplishment"
 * "Any moment now, you'll be dead! Are you excited to see what that's like?"
 * "Why do you knuckle-draggers insist on doing things the hard way... very well."

Appearances
Burke appears only in Fallout 3.

Mister Break
Mister Break is a NPC in the Sacred Bog area of the DLC Point Lookout. He is part of the hallucination that occurs after the player consumes the Punga Seeds and is seen leaning against an atom bomb, similar to the Megaton bomb but much larger. If the player interacts with him the bomb explodes and they wake up outside of the Sacred Bog. Mister Break is a delusional image of Mister Burke. His clothes are the same except for his Tortiseshell Glasses. When spoken to he will respond in Tobar the Ferryman's voice (it is later revealed that it is indeed Tobar talking to the player) and he gives a warning to not to get up, saying "you might hurt yourself." Mister Break cannot be killed, only rendered unconcious and will shoot you if provoked.

Bugs

 * If you shoot at Mr.Burke while he is talking to Simms, he will pull out his gun. If you shoot the pistol out of his hands and then pick it up off of the ground, he may pull out a duplicate pistol which you can also shoot out of his hands, giving you two silenced pistols.
 * It is possible for when after doing the Tenpenny Tower quest and let the Ghouls take over Tenpenny Tower when you go back while the Ghouls are living there, Mr.Burke will be up by Tenpennys Suite unhostile to you or the ghouls and unable to engage in combat just saying "You should be proud."
 * It is possible that when you first enter Megaton, Burke will be glitched in such a manner that he "sits" outside of Craterside Supply as if there were a chair there, in the same way he's supposed to sit in Moriarty's Saloon. Burke will not automatically engage the Lone Wanderer in a conversation as is the case in Moriarty's.


 * A random bug will cause Mr.Burke to wear nothing. After 1 hour he will appear with his clothes. This bug rarely happens and only occurs in Moriarty's Saloon if you deny his request and come back later.


 * It is possible that upon entering Megaton for the first time, you may witness him sneaking around near the bomb. He can be engaged in conversation normally, as if he was sitting in Moriarty's Saloon. The Lone Wanderer must engage him in this conversation, as he will not automatically talk to the player like in the Saloon.


 * Even if Burke is killed before you ever set foot in Tenpenny Tower, such as during the confrontation with Lucas Simms, you may still find that hitmen specifically from the Tenpenny Tower quest possess notes signed by Burke commissioning your character's termination. You can still find these notes on them even if you used Black Widow on Burke and he is sending you love letters at the same time.


 * It is possible - especially on the PlayStation 3 version of the game - that if you kill Burke, then (after a long while) he may respawn back, and can be found standing beside the bomb if it is disarmed, though he cannot be engaged in conversation.


 * If you use pickpocketing to steal Mr. Burke's ammunition, he will draw his weapon to shoot Simms, then holster it over and over again. When you follow Simms outside, he falls down dead anyway.


 * It is possible when you go up the elevator in Tenpenny Tower that Burke will turn on you and start attacking. Just go down the elevator then back up and he will be friendly.
 * If you ignore Mister Burke or talk to him and don't want to blow up the bomb and then disarm it and then proceed to complete the quest by talking to Lucas Simms, Mr. Burke will almost always disappear, never to be found again for the duration of the game, the only way to prevent this is to blow up the bomb, where he will usually then hang around in Tenpenny Tower
 * If you try to talk to Lucas Simms and Mr. Burke while they discuss the conversation about Mr. Burke trying to blow up the town, they will tell you "they're busy" and "not now." Then both will walk outside instead of Mr. Burke killing Simms. When outside, Burke will tell you how you will regret not taking his offer. After finished with the dialogue, Lucas Simms will drop dead to the ground.

Behind the scenes
Burke is the name of what is considered an upper-middle class town in Virginia south of Fairfax and Annandale.