Twirling tendrils of wood swirled around them, packing them tightly together. Vines and branches wrapped around the small group as the explosion shook them.
"What's going on?" Jean asked, panic in her voice. She clutched her forehead, breathing heavily.
"Jean, relax." Kitty touched her shoulder softly, as they were all encased in greenery.
"I am Groot." Groot's disembodied voice rumbled around them in an attempt to sooth Jean.
"Listen to Groot," Peter nodded, sandwiched between Drax and Bobby. "Listen to his...his thoughts."
Jean looked to Kitty, who nodded with a concerned smile, before closing her eyes, knitting her brows together. Her breathing slowed and her shoulders relaxed just slightly. "It looks like we've survived...for now. Groot has us."
"I am Groot." Groot would be nodded, if he had a head at the moment.
Jean sighed softly. "He has nice thoughts." Kitty nodded, smiling softly, though Jean's eye remained closed.
"That was close." Flash sighed, his symbiote compacting in the tight space, moving up his body, back from his legs, making room for Sam.
Peter nodded. "Too close." His hand snaked out over Nova's head, he was reaching for Kitty. They had been struggling during this time, but they were still...he still...
Kitty took his hand, and their fingers tangling together.
"Groot will protect us for now." Drax said, "and then we will attack Knife once again."
"Attacking is unwise." Storm sighed softly. "We need...we need Hank. We need someone with a plan."
Cyclops shook his head. "We can do this. Ourselves." Laura nodded, her mouth setting in a grim line.
"We don't have to do it alone." Sam piped up, feeling a little awkward, not just because of Flash's stumps digging into his back and his proximity to what looked like a butt made of ice, but also because he didn't really know the X-Men within the ball of Groot that well. While he had gone trick-or-treating with Nature Girl and some of the others at the Jean Grey School, the team that he was crushed tightly against was mostly made up of people he hadn't met. Heck, he didn't even know the Guardians that well! "I mean, if my dad..." he paused, "if I've learned anything so far from being a superhero, it's that it's okay to get help."
"Even from a from a cosmic power-mad megalomaniac?" The ice butt sassed tersely in his direction.
"Bobby." Kitty narrowed her eyes. "I think...sorry, um, Nova?" Sam nodded vigorously. "I think Nova is right. There's nothing bad about asking for help...and Hank needs our help too."
"I am Groot?"
"We can only hope, Groot," Peter sighed softly and squeezed Kitty's hand tightly in his own, as the Groot ball protected the group from another explosion.