What it says in the title. Alternate versions of the fight in Nemesis. Chop and change as you'd like.

-afop-

The bang echoed through the ring but was quickly drowned as Katsuki cursed. He made a throwing gesture, and Izuku recognised the gun as it was cast away. Bakugou shook his hand. He'd been burnt. Dabi's fire had hit him, or the gun at least. "Ha!" He barked.

Imoku looked towards Dabi. The fire villain was still standing but there was a shocked look on his face. And a perfect hole in his forehead. His body crumpled.

"Fuck! I needed him!" Izuku growled, snarling the words at his old friend.

"Fucker!" Katsuki swore again, still shaking his hand, and not paying attention to him.

Imoku turned back to High End. "Kill him," he ordered.

"Fight!" The Noumu cheered the word, and charged.

Bakugou might still be complaining about the burn on his hand but he was quick to react. Izuku retreated back to the tunnel High End had emerged from. He glanced at Dabi. The Fire Villain really was dead. That was... annoying. His mind immediately began working on what steps he'd have to take now to ensure he wasn't detected here. There might be camera feeds here. He wasn't sure. He'd have to check before he left.

High End swung one arm at Katsuki. The vigilante dodged, thrusting his uninjured hand towards the Noumu and exploding it. One thing Izuku could say about Bakugou was that his old friend knew when not to hold back. He wasn't now. The explosion was powerful. Izuku saw it actually scorch and burn High End's abdomen. The Noumu felt it as well. It didn't hiss even as the muscle and skin healed, it was the opposite. High End was excited.

"Fight!" He told Bakugou in a happy tone. "Good fight!"

The vigilante took the initiative, throwing punches and enhancing each with explosions. Izuku could tell that his old friend wanted nothing more than for him to be on the receiving end of those punches but High End wasn't going to allow that.

The Noumu closed with Bakugou. Imoku couldn't see much but he could hear the continuous detonation of explosions. He saw High End's skin char and blacken and heal again and again. His eyes narrowed. It was definitely slower. Maybe he should help... he could stop an explosion or two, but he knew High End would not approve. Instead he focused on Katsuki. Stopping a heart was a difficult job, he had to get a feel for the currents in Kacchan's body.

He was sure that High End would win, but Izuku hadn't got to where he was by not being willing to plan for contingencies.

"Fucker!" Bakugou snarled, jumping back. He pulled something from the belt he had on.

High End let him go. Imoku had seen the Noumu fight in this ring before. He tended to allow his challengers to try a few things. Even though Imoku had ordered him to kill, he imagined High End would revert to his norms here. Bakugou would die though. He just had to be patient.

It gave him time to plan. Fuck! He looked over to Dabi's body. Izuku shook his head. He really needed Dabi. The fire villain had been reliable and content. It was that second virtue that interested Imoku. Dabi wasn't going to challenge him.

A smile stretched across Imoku's features. If he was thinking that, he was being lazy. Dabi had established he was the Leader of the League and there was still Kurogiri, Himiko and Spinner around who would support him. If none of them wanted the leadership position, they could promote someone.

It would be a challenge to keep that unknown in line. It would be fun. And he'd need something to do, since most of his enemies had rather courteously managed to die. After all, it wasn't like controlling the current Opposition Leader, and likely soon to be Prime Minister, Yatou Rida was going to be difficult.

Losing Dabi was a pain but it would work out in the long run. Infact, it might be better. He had been complacent today, given that underling had been listening in. He needed the challenge. Besides, it's not like whoever was chosen wouldn't trust him.

Izuku turned his attention back to the fight in time to see Bakugou charge at High End. The thing he had taken from his belt was in one hand and Izuku had a sinking idea he knew what it was now.

It was confirmed a moment later when there was a huge explosion. Imoku shielded himself as best he could but in the tunnel he could still feel the blast of air and the wash of heat. High End roared from within the explosion. Imoku hunkered down, shielding his eyes as the explosion seemed to go on forever. What had Katsuki done? Usually his explosions were quick, and while Kacchan could generate them one after the another that required a lot of sweat. It wasn't that hot in here. So what had he done? It had to be something to do with whatever he'd taken from his belt.

Eventually the explosion faded. Izuku felt his eyes widen as he watched High End fall to his knees. The Noumu fell forward onto its face. Bakugou turned his eyes to him. Izuku could read the dismissal in the red orbs but he knew High End wasn't finished yet. As Katsuki took a step towards him, High End moved. His large hand gripped the vigilante's ankle. Bakugou was quick to react. He spun, slamming his hands down on High End's arm to explode the offending hand from his ankle.

It worked, but High End then rose, holding up the stump of his arm as the bone, muscle and nerves reformed. "Good fight!" the Noumu cheered, unconcerned with the healing state of his skin and hand.

Imoku wasn't as relaxed. It was definitely too slow. He'd seen High End fight for years, and this was noticeably slower than it had been. Still, Izuku was confident the Noumu had what it took to kill Bakugou. He might be deteriorating with his healing, but Imoku could feel that High End was more stable when he spoke to him with his quirk active. He would have to deal with it later.

High End swung again at Bakugou with his newly formed hand. Katsuki responded as he always did, with an explosion. It peeled the newly formed skin back.

"Do you want a hand?" Imoku yelled to the Noumu.

"No!" came the instant response.

Izuku laughed. He had expected that reply.

"Wouldn't work, fucking Deku," came a response from Bakugou.

Imoku didn't say anything. He knew what Katsuki was referring to. The first time Bakugou had confronted him, he had stopped him from producing sparks to create his explosions. That was over ten years ago. Bakugou had obviously learned some new tricks in the meantime. That was okay, he had as well.

High End caught Katsuki with a punch. The vigilante was punted back until he hit the first row of seats that surrounded the ring. He crashed into them, tumbling further back into the next few rows until he came to a halt. Bakugou was all limbs.

He growled as High End strode towards him. "Fucker!" Bakugou growled.

Imoku couldn't help his widening eyes as he fished in his belt again. He focused his public quirk on his old friend, feeling the sparks in Katsuki's body. There were so many and he couldn't get a lock on them. He wasn't meant to. He really had to stretch spark to affect something that was really so subtle. It was far easier to affect Bakugou's hands. The spark was bigger. But he would do whatever it took. He, Imoku Kakurete was walking away from today.

Shit! He thought to himself. The expletive wasn't that refined but Bakugou was so predictable. The previous explosion had affected High End, and in the vigilante's small mind, that meant a bigger explosion was obviously better. High End would recover, so long as his head wasn't too badly damaged, but Izuku knew the look on Bakugou's face. He was going to make the biggest explosion he could. It wasn't hard to figure out what the things he pulled from his belt were. They must be concentrated sweat pouches or something similar.

"You are dead fucker!" Katsuki screamed as he got up and charged towards High End. Imoku noticed something different with the way he ran. His fists were holding something and... There was a glint on his glove. A knife, perhaps?

The Noumu meet Bakugou's charge. The creation wasn't afraid. Imoku thought that it didn't know how to be afraid. He could see that there were more of the explosive things in Bakugou's hands and Imoku focused on nulling the spark but there was something wrong.

"Ha!" Bakugou laughed an instant before impact with High End.

If Imoku had thought the explosion earlier was bad, this was worse. He was forced to hunker down in the tunnel, shielding his head with his arms. Something still hit him that wasn't just the shock wave. It was smaller and denser, and stun, almost like hail. The whole building shook. The noise was incredible, and Imoku could hear smaller, secondary explosions forming.

Then he heard something splatter. It wasn't a single noise but continued, as if there was a gentle pitter patter of rain. Izuku looked around. He didn't have to look far. There were little things falling to the ground at the entrance to the tunnel. There were some on him, those that had been flung more horizontally.

There was the sickening smell of burning flesh. Izuku gagged. It had been years since he'd smelt it but it brought back memories. It wasn't much of a comfort that it wasn't his flesh burning this time. Izuku swallowed hard, pushing down the nausea he felt at the reminder of his past. He thought he'd gotten over that.

He would be getting over it very soon. Just as soon as Katsuki was gone for got. It was a catharsis he had been looking forward to for a while.

The smell didn't linger, though the pitter patter of rain did. That was a problem. Imoku knew what it meant. If Kacchan had done it right, it wouldn't be High End making the kill. Imoku focused. He knew what the glint on Bakugou's glove had been for now. It had been a blade, possibly one that split to make a hole, so of course his old friend had done it right. Ten years wouldn't have been enough to change that, and for Bakugou, Izuku knew he had always had the thought that there was no kill like overkill. His blade would have made an opening, so he could force his fist actually into High End. This explosion had come from within the Noumu. The pitter patter was the bits of High End raining back down into the ring.

Well, that might have worked on High End, but Izuku preferred the subtler approach. He suspected Kacchan would be wanting evidence of his supposed corruption. He wouldn't make the same attack.

The explosion faded as the pitter patter did. Imoku was prepared for the result. High End was... It was a misnomer to say he was down, or rather he was down to his legs. They were still standing but as Imoku watched, they fell. The black skin on them lacked the sheen of the living. It was darker and almost granular. Carbonised. At least on the outside. The rest of the Noumu's body couldn't be seen. Imoko looked around for High End's head. If it survived, then he'd have to kill Bakugou, but he'd still have a champion for his fighting ring.

The smoke cleared and allowed him to see Bakugou was holding it by the skin flap.

"Impressive," Imoku murmured. He was forced to admit that Kacchan had come a long way with his control. When they were younger, Katsuki had just produced explosions. Now it appeared he could regulate the output. In this case, he'd made his explosion bigger (with help) and a hell of a lot hotter.

Bakugou held up High End's head and put his other hand behind it.

Izuku knew what he was about to do. The explosion was destructive and Imoku looked down at his suit as another part of High End splattered against him. The suit was already dusty but now it was also covered in charcoal. He doubted it could be laundered.

"Your turn!" Katsuki growled. He sounded happy.

"That's two you owe me for today," Imoku murmured.

"Arrogant fucker!" Bakugou snarled, and released what was left of High End's head as he strode towards Imoku. Small explosions appeared on his palms but Izuku could see the strain it was causing. Kacchan was getting tired.

"Do you really think you will survive this?" Izuku asked, reaching out to suppressed the explosions on Katsuki's palms.

The vigilante grinned at him. "That's not going to save you, Deku!" He crowed, triumphantly.

Apparently Bakugou hadn't been lying when he'd earlier said it wouldn't work. He had learned some new tricks in the last ten years. Well, so had he.

Imoku braced himself. Unlike their previous confrontation, over ten years ago, they were about the same size now. He took three quick steps to close with Bakugou. The vigilante saw it, and launched small explosions which Izuku brushed off. He'd seen them before. He didn't even try to suppressed the sparks there. Instead he swung his fist in, aiming to punch Katsuki.

The vigilante saw it coming and dodged, lunging forward, his right arm drawn back. A right hook. Kacchan hadn't changed. Izuku dodged, causing Bakugou to overreach. His hands flashed up, grabbing Katsuki's forearm and using the momentum to flip the vigilante. Instead of pulling away though, Imoku allowed himself to be pulled down so that he was pinning Bakugou.

The vigilante bucked. Imoku wasn't stronger, but he had the better position. "You always lead with a right hook, Kacchan," he told his old friend.

That lead to a particularly hard buck. It almost shook Imoku loose but he manage to remain seated. They engaged in a limited fist fight. He hadn't managed to pin Katsuki's arms. Explosions burned Imoku but he had felt this pain before. He'd felt it for years, everyday that Bakugou bullied him. He wasn't going to be distracted now. Instead, he slammed one hand down, onto Katsuki's chest and released a string of sparks. It was like a defibrillator.

The shock to Kacchan's heart caused him to still for a moment, his face stretched into a rictus of pain. That allowed Imoku to pin his arms.

"Fucking, Deki!" Katsuki managed to spit out with an impressive amount of vitriol. He tried to buck again, though the motion was weaker. "Fucker couldn't win in a fair fight."

Imoku rolled his shoulders, letting his weight press further into Bakugou's abdomen. He was definitely going to have burns from the explosions Katsuki had managed to hit him with. Bakugou already did. He knew there would be a hand shaped burn over his heart.

Izuku shifted forward again, punching his old friend. It was a sucker punch given that Bakugou couldn't defend himself. It felt good. Kacchan snarled at him.

"I know, Kacchan," he told his friend. "But, do you know what the most important lesson you ever taught me was?"

Izuku put his hand over Katsuki's face, careful to avoid his biting teeth. It would require another application of his quirk to make sure Bakugou died. His heart rate was probably returning to normal now.

"I taught you nothing, you fucking Deku!"

"No, Kacchan, you taught me the most important thing for anyone to learn!"

"What?" the vigilante demanded.

Izuku leaned forward, careful not to shift his weight enough that Katsuki could buck him off. "Life isn't fair," he whispered, before letting another round of sparks attack Bakugou. This time they were in his brain. Through Spark, Izuku could feel the way his sparks interacted with the currents in Katsuki's brain. He could feel the way they were interrupting them.

Bakugou convulsed. It was uncontrolled. He began foaming at the mouth. It was not a pretty way to die but then there wasn't really any pretty way to die. There were peaceful ways to die, and those that weren't so peaceful. This was not peaceful either. It felt as if Bakugou was still fighting him but Izuku knew it was only the physical reaction.

He stood up, tugging at his jacket to settle it correctly as he looked down at Kacchan's body. Izuku closed his eyes briefly. There were a lot of memories running riot through his head at the moment and he pushed them back into a semblance of order. Too many childhood memories had come to the surface now.

"Good bye, Kacchan," he said softly before he looked up and around the ring. There were some small fires burning and there were bits of High End everywhere, but the Noumu was not reforming. It was dead. The place was a mess. The glass on Dabi's office was shattered and the fire villain's body had been driven into the stands by the explosions.

With the noise and the exposure, the police would be here soon. Imoku reached into his jacket pocket, feeling for his phone. Thankfully it was still there. He pulled it out. It was still in working order but he expected that. It did have a heavy duty protective case and was hardened against electrical shocks. There were enough people with electrical quirks that such hardening had become common enough. He taped the number from memory.

"Kurogiri," Imoku said, when the warp villain picked up.

"Imoku," the other man greeted him.

"Transportation would be appreciated," Imoku didn't waste time with explanations. The faster he was out of here, the better. "Two portals," he added, remembering Dabi's underling who had been listening in. If he was still alive, then he would need to be dealt with. "The corridor outside Dabi's office, and the fighting ring," Imoku gave the locations, knowing Kurogiri would know them.

As expected a portal opened in front of him. Imoku stepped forward without hesitation. He didn't look back.

After all, destruction simply heralded a new beginning. And this destruction was the end of heroes. Now, he could finally say he'd won.

Imoku smiled. Sensei had been right. It was about power. Now he had power.

And he would use it

-afop-

The end, end!