Author's Note: The line belongs to Harry Turtledove. Just for the record,

And yes, this is it for The Answer at the moment. I lay the groundwork for a possible sequel here, but if I ever do it it'll be awhile. My next Veronica Mars story will be the sequel to Death Becomes Him. It will be called "Blood Kin."

Anyway: I'm glad you've enjoyed the adventures of Veronica the sociopath.

Disclaimer: Rob Thomas created Veronica Mars and the characters and settings of this story. I own only the plotline.

X X X X X

I've got three opponents. The only one of any note is Wanda Vahrner. Wanda Vahrner was scoring a lot of points with her proposal to get rid of Pirate Points. Pirate Points are a way, essentially, for the '09er crowd and the jocks and cheerleaders to get privileges that the hoi polloi of Neptune High couldn't get. Even though I was fairly well known as being the nice one among the Neptune High elite, I was still one of them.

For once, that was working against me. I needed to find a way to neutralize Wanda Vahrner, and fast.

I asked my friends. I very carefully did not ask Wallace to get me her private file, or Mac to do any of her hacker stuff. If that got out, it would have been considered "cheating" and gotten me in trouble.

No one knew anything until I got down to Weevil. "Yeah, I got something on her," Weevil said.

"What?"

"I ain't sure I want to tell you, Mars. What's in it for me?"

I laughed. I kind of respected Weevil. Yeah, even he was weighed down with conscience, but he looked out for himself.

"What do you want?"

"I dunno. Much as I hate Wanda Vahrner, I think she's kinda got a good point about this 'Pirate Point' jazz. Just another way for the high-and-mighty to stick it to the rest of us."

"I wouldn't have thought you'd've cared about any of that stuff."

"Hey, I'd like to be able to get myself a pizza or some burgers to go every once in awhile without having Clemmons get on my case for it. I work in shop, I make things. Why's that any different from what some of them damn jocks do?"

"How about this, then. You tell me what you have on Vahrner; when I'm elected I'll do my best to give the points to everyone."

"Do your best?"

"The title's President, not Dictator." At least for the moment. "Unless you want to join me and stage a revolution?"

"Naah, that sounds like too much work. Fair enough. Vahrner's a narc. She rats out the other students to cover her own ass for a drug crime she got nailed on a while back. I've had some of my boys go to jail over what she said."

"Get proof and you've got your deal."

Weevil didn't get proof, exactly; but he did get a lot of people talking about Vahrner the Narc, which was the next best thing. And I kept myself above the fray by "taking the high road" and not touching the story.

"Wanda and I were in the pep squad together," I said. "I'm not going to attack her." Not while I had Weevil to do it for me.

Then I undercut her even more when it came time to give my speech. "Fellow Neptune High students," I said. "I'm Veronica Mars, and I'm here to tell you the truth." I cribbed that line from some alternate history book somewhere. If anyone asked, I'd give credit. "And the truth is – much as we may hate to hear it – Wanda Vahrner is onto something about the Pirate Points. But she's wrong when she says we should get rid of them. So here's the deal. Vote for me and we'll keep Pirate Points – but we'll also give them to other people. People in the chess club. In the marching band. In debate club. That way anyone who wants to take advantage of them can do so, and anyone who doesn't, doesn't have to."

That sealed Wanda's fate right there. With the narc rep dogging her, and my proposal on the table, I got 65 of the vote and won outright. Some of the '09er crowd was a little annoyed that I was letting "the unwashed masses" get the same rights they had, but really, who else were they going to vote for?

Things went pretty smoothly in Neptune for a while after that. Sure, there was that whole bus crash thing my senior year -- I helped 'solve' that one too -- but that's a story for another day.

Incidentally: with the tapes as evidence, and Lynn and Logan lined up to testify against him, Aaron Echolls was eventually found guilty of all charges against him except child abuse. He's currently serving 30 to life in a prison upstate.

I got away with murder. Literally.

And my political career was just beginning.

X X X X X

The following message is brought to you by the Veronica Mars for President Committee:

"My fellow Americans, I know you. You're tired of politicians who say one thing and mean something else. Who'll lie to get into office -- tell you what you want to hear to get your vote, and then come up with ten thousand excuses why they didn't keep their word. Well, that's not me. My name is Veronica Mars, and I'm here to tell you the truth."

"And the truth is, the country's in sad shape. Wars. Depression. The skyrocketing price of oil. And I'll tell you the truth: I can't promise that I'm going to fix any of that. I wish I could, but then I'd be lying to you." I paused for a second and said, "The other candidates will swear that their economic programs, their plans for troop pullout -- that that'll solve all of America's problems. But you've been getting the same line from the people in charge for forty years now. It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed because they haven't changed."

"What I can promise you is that I'll do my best to fix them. I have my own plans -- and I think they'll work. But I can't make any guarantees. What I can promise is that I will never lie to you. Anything you want to know? I'll tell you. Anything you want to know my position on? I'll tell you. Just ask. And as far as what's wrong with the country goes -- I don't have the answers."

"I am the answer."

X X X X X

Wanna come to an inauguration?