"Ochako, we're in luck, my quirk counters both of theirs." Izuku explains confidently as he waits for the start of the first hero exercise.
"Let's win!" Ochako cheers.
"Alright, let's see what beauty I get today!" Izuku shouts as Ochako's contagious excitement takes hold. Raising his hands to the air he summons the day's tank.
"WHAT! NO!" Izuku wails as soon as he sets his eyes on the relatively small tank. It had a rather strange turret that replaced the gun with a tall slit and was otherwise unremarkable except for a prominent machine gun on the left of the slit.
"It doesn't look that bad." Ochako says, moving to comfort Izuku with a gentle pat on his back.
"It doesn't have a gun." Izuku says sadly.
"We can't shoot them anyway." Ochako consoles.
"It's so small." Izuku whines.
"It fits through the halls though?" Ochako questions.
"It does?" Izuku asks.
"Yep. we'll have to smash through the wall to get in, but after that we fit!" Ochako says enthusiastically.
"We fit!" Izuku cheers.
"We fit!" Ochako mirrors, and the two happily jump up and down until the voice of All Might starts the round.
"We should get in." Izuku says quickly.
"Yeah." Ochako agrees.
As the two board the tank, Ochako asks, "So what is it?"
"This is the Matilda Canal Defence Light, a special conversion of the Matilda II infantry tank that uses a carbon-arc searchlight as a dazzling weapon." Izuku explains.
"Aoyama will be proud." Ochako says.
"Indeed, but the searchlight isn't even the third most lethal thing on the tank, first is the machine gun, second is the tank itself, third is actually the asbestos gloves used to replace the carbon rods when they burn out." Izuku says with a hint of humor.
"Asbestos!" Ochako panics.
"Yep, before people realized it's dangers it was used as a thermal insulator and fireproofing system. Honestly it's still one of the best materials out there, if only it didn't kill people in horrible ways." Izuku comments.
Bakugo was having a good day, he had blasted his way through all the classes and was now in a position to finally give that history loving nerd the beat down he deserved. Bakugo was confident in his victory because if he knew anything about Deku it was his appalling luck.
'Probably got some pathetic car that can't even fit inside.' Bakugo thinks as he waits in ambush.
Suddenly he hears a terrific crash as the wall near the staircase is broken down and soon enough the familiar metallic clashing of tracks echoes through the halls.
'Well, there's no way the stairs will hold a tank.' Bakugo thinks confidently.
Next thing Bakugo hears is not the crash of a tank falling through the stairs, but the roar of an engine doing it's best to push 25 tons up a staircase.
"Cementos really overbuilds these things doesn't he." All Might murmurs as he watches this ridiculous scene with the rest of 1-A.
"That's beyond over-doing it." Momo comments as she considers the materials required to build to that strength.
Bakugo leaps around his corner to ambush the attacking heroes, but his explosion does nothing more than burn the paint, while the 12.8 million candela response blinds and disorients him to the point that he collapses in epileptic shock.
As they observe Bakugo lying on the ground in complete agony and submission, Izuku comments, "that's the power of 120 flashes of light per minute."
"Should we restrain him?" Ochako asks.
"Probably, why don't you get out for now, without Bakugo it should be safe." Izuku instructs.
"A dazzling performance!" Aoyama says with a sparkle while some of his classmates recovered from the lights effect through the cameras.
"I'm going to ask if I can have that at a concert one day." Kyoka comments.
"I will learn how to create it!" Momo shouts with excitement.
"The light! It burns!" Tokoyami whines as he cowers in a corner.
Iida was worried, with the quick end of his teammate and the ominous shaking of the building he was sure a true monster was on its way. However, despite his fear, he held his position, ready to defeat whatever tank Izuku had summoned.
As the door and some of the adjacent wall broke down, discretion overtook his valor and Iida quickly hid behind the bomb. This act saved him from the initial onslaught of light as his eyes were well shielded.
"You're doomed Iida!" Izuku shouts, "your speed is nothing to my steel armor!"
"Ha! Heroes, you won't get far!" Iida replies with false bravado, rapidly considering his options.
"It's too late to think!" Izuku taunts as his tank begins crawling across the room.
Unfortunately for Izuku, while the staircases and halls were built on the edges of the building and were therefore rather strong, the room was not, and as he crossed the middle the floor collapsed and the tank careened downwards in a plume of debris and dust.
"Midoriya!" Iida shouts, as he rushes to the edge of the hole.
"Hero team wins!" All Might announces suddenly.
"What!?" Iida and several students shout in confusion, turning to the bomb only to see Ochako hugging it with a worried smile on her face.
"How did she get there?" Iida asks.
A quick review of the replay shows Ochako sitting on the back of the tank as it enters the bomb room. When the tank falls, the rapid rotation of the hull throws Ochako into the air, and she capitalizes on it by activating her quirk and floating to the bomb.
Soon enough Izuku is extracted from his damaged tank and reviewed by a medical bot. Luckily he only had bruises and scrapes, though in the most unusual of places as only a tanker can know.
The Matilda CDL on the other hand was in bad shape, the light was broken and the tracks had come off. The excessive debris made it impossible to repair on site, and it was decided to leave it and move to another building.
"With the exception of Bakugo you all did well. Iida, while I am glad you chose your classmate's health over the objective, he was on the other team and in a tank, try to remain focused on the objective next time. Midoriya, most buildings won't be able to handle the weight of a tank, so make preparations to fight on your own. Uraraka, good job, but try to be a larger part in planning in the future." All Might critiques kindly. "Anyone want to add anything?"
"May I?" Momo asks.
"Of course young Yaoyorozu." All Might says.
"Can I have a look at the tank after class? I want to make one of those lights and learn more." Momo says with visible excitement.
"Of course, I would love to discuss the Canal Defense Light project. Did you know it was kept so secret, many commanders didn't know they existed? And as such they were underutilized?" Izuku lectures.
"Oh? Tell me more!" Momo nearly shouts with excitement.
"Not now please, we have more matches ahead of us." All Might interrupts gently.
"Sorry!" Momo and Izuku say in unison.
AN: Ah the Canal Defence Light, an obscure but interesting concept. I do recommend having a quick look into it, there is a good guide on youtube if you care to look.
Non-historical tanks will probably come later when I do the same events, but with even more ridiculous machines. I mean, how could I resist some of the design disasters Sci-fi writers create?
KV-2 already has a chapter, but I may add it if I do something fluffy in the future, Eri deserves Soviet Steel.