I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I stared down the barrels of about 20 high-powered energy rifles. Gladiator could barely stop his gloating laughter long enough to give a command to the guardians. I tried again to attack him psionically but no matter how hard I strained against the Nega Strip, there was nothing I could do.

"Kill them both!" Gladiator boomed.

Just before his men could fire though, a golden light appeared between us. A sense of calm and peace filled the room as a giant winged man in shining armor appeared. His large hand reached out, offering a weapon to Magdalena. It was the Spear of Destiny!

As soon as the angel disappeared, the Guardians pointed their weapons at us again. Suddenly Maggie tossed her cloak over my head, shielding my eyes as a tremendous white light seared out from the Spear, blinding all of the Guardians.

Pulling the cloak off my head, I saw her leaping to the attack. I must say, she was magnificent. Her agile body leapt and spun, twirling her weapon through her opponents, cutting them down like a sharp scythe in a wheat field.

Just as she was about to run one of the goons through, Gladiator reached out and grabbed the end of the Spear. She was no match for his raw physical power. Using the Spear, he flipped her up over his head and slammed her down hard on the cold metal floor. He raised his heavy boot over her head and started to bring it down when a familiar "snnikkt" filled the room. Wolverine's claws jabbed hard into Gladiator's thick side.

I felt a blast of heat near the back of my head and the Nega Strip fell off. Immediately my mind reached out and I felt Cyclops behind me. He told me that they had traced Maggie's signal with a Kree scout ship. Captain Marvel owed Wolverine a favor for saving his life from the Super Skrull in a long ago team-up.

Rogue flew like a shot over my head and slammed into one of the Guardians and sent him crashing into two others. Angel flew behind her and grabbed up the fallen warrior's rifle. He started taking out stunned soldiers.

Wolverine's claws couldn't do all that much damage to Gladiator's thick skin. The mohawked fighter recovered quickly and smashed his fist hard into Logan's face. He was about to land another crushing blow when Maggie drive her Spear deep into his thigh. Gladiator let out a terrible howl.

In no time at all, the last of the Guardians fell. Angel came over to me leading Corsair, still down on all fours, by the collar. I could feel Cyclop's anguish. Corsair started sniffing at my feet with that little gerbil like nose twitch. I reached into his mind telepathically and undid Emma Frost's meddling. He looked rather confused.

"Wha - X-xavier? Where am I?"

"You are safe," I told him. "For the moment. Where is the Sapphire of Radiance?"

"Ummm . . "

"Um, is not an answer. Where is the Sapphire?"

"Never heard of it," he answered, the smirk returning to his face. Clearly Corsair was not going to be cooperative.