Three for three. Oh well.
I link to John August's Glorious Defeat and the gorgeous Julie for her post on winning.
As my few remaining friends will attest, I revert to a line from Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's excellent Daredevil: Born Again: the villain, having deliciously destroyed the hero's life, realises too late -
-- that a man without hope --
-- is a man without fear.