The Impact of several falling missiles was enough to dissuade James from dismounting from Kilo, if only for the immediate future. Reflexively activating the Vanguard's vortex shield, the falling ordinance was drawn harmlessly into suspension in front of his metal palm along with a handful of loose rubble from the previous skirmish. Narrowing his eyes at the blaring pilot lock warning, he turned his machine sharply and flared the shield, flinging the explosive cocktail of rocks and mortar shells in the general direction of the threat.

The impromptu projectiles smashed into the structure somewhere in the general vicinity but James didn't wait to see if the rising dust was accompanied by a red mist or battered corpse. Instead he instantly utilised one of three saved up electric smoke charges and blanketed the area around Kilo with Lock-preventing smoke. Using the loss of sight line to his advantage, he quickly disembarked from the safety of Kilo's cockpit, Flatline in hand and Wingman Elite on his thigh, and grappled onto a low roof adjacent to where the lock had come from, carrying his momentum into a wall-run as he made his way higher up the line of buildings, hopping across the wide gaps with well-timed Jump-pack blasts. At the same time, Kilo broke off and moved down one of the adjacent lanes in an attempt to break sight-lines, crushing an unfortunate squad of IMC marines in the process.

Once he has sure his titan was in a safer position, James crouch-slid to a stop in the shadow a silo or storage tank on the roof just across from the slightly scorched hole in the building where he had thrown the missiles and slowly scanned the nearby area, trying to make-out any sign of the enemy foolish enough to underestimate a Vanguard Pilot. Gen 3 Titans like Vanguards or Monarchs, their IMC knockoffs, weren't given to just any pilot after all. Mag-locking his rifle to his back and reaching into a specialised sheath on his chest, he quickly drew a Pulse Blade and tossed it in the general vicinity of building. If the enemy was still in the area, the radar technology within the specialised throwing knife would let James know immediately, even if they were hiding under a Cloak.