Three sided square (editing/revision period)

Running

[observation]

Jaemins core pounded as it worked to keep up with legs. He recognized the street to Haechans house and he sighed before stomping out Doyoungs tracker. He picked up a shard of it and shoved it into his pocket, just in case he never saw them again. He ran up the front steps and pounded on the door, calling for Renjun. Jisung groggily opened the door and stumbled back as Jaemin shoved past him to get Renjun.
"Renjun! Renjun we have to go." He felt his system act up but he tried to power through it.
"What? Why?"
"I'll explain later but we need to go now."
"What about Jeno?"
"As far as we know, we can't trust him anymore-he could've been in on it this whole time...Hurry please! Jaehyuns on his way-" Jaemin yanked him up from the floor and handed him his shoes. He ripped his cord out of the wall and shoved it in his empty pocket. Renjun shook to life and scrunched up his face.
"What's going on?"
"I'm telling you if there was time to explain, I'd be talking but we need to get somewhere safe before I-I-I-" he stopped talking, officially overstimulated and resorted to yanking Renjun out of the house. Jisung cocked his head and shut the door closed behind them, not sure if he was dreaming or not.

Renjun took the lead going to the first place he thought of.
"I know somewhere safe-well, safe enough. Explain what this is all about, if your voice is back?"
"Doyoung-woah," his voice came out as if he was drowning in static, "Doyoung and Taeyong might be dead."
"What?! H-how? Why?"
"It's Jaehyun. Mrs.Lee reinforced him to make him super strong. He wanted to get my core. I've never been more scared."
"Jaehyun? The new one right?"
"Yeah-the old one was shut down right?" Jaemin asked, pointing at Renjuns ear. Renjun delicately dislodged his tracker and chucked it deep into a sewer drain.
"Not exactly. I'm not supposed to bring you here but...there's nowhere else for us to go." Renjun sighed as they continued down the sidewalk.

Eventually a dimly lit gas station came into view and Renjun held his hand out for Jaemin to stop. Jaemin hid in the darkness, worried Jaehyun was still after him as Renjun stepped inside.
"Renjun?" Jen stood up from behind a rack of expired snacks and smiled. "Nice to see you again."
"Look, I had to bring Jaemin-"
"Pause. What did I tell you." Jen huffed and looked out the glass door, searching for him.
"That'd it be on sight I know-but we're in danger."
"Now that he's here we're in danger."
"Jen- please. We can't go anywhere else."
"Let me see him first." Jen crossed his arms and stepped outside with Renjun.

"Jeno?" Jaemin stepped back as he saw him walk out behind Renjun.
"Woah, your voice is fucked. If you're that defective you should be fine."
"Not defective I'm." Jaemins voice returned to normal but his speech pattern was all jumbled.
"Sure about that, bud?" Jen clamped him on the shoulder and herded them inside. "Stay for however long you need. I'm keeping an eye on you." Jen glared at Jaemin and went back to whatever he was doing behind the snack rack.
"J-Jen! What the fuck? Why is he here?" Sicheng scrunched up his face and put up his fists as he walked in.
"Not here to hurt." Jaemin kept his sentences short.
"I-I see. T-they decided they didn't need you anymore and tossed you. They probably deprogrammed your deconstruct feature." Sicheng tsked and shook his head.
"The pity train what's with?" Jaemin asked, confused.
"Mom and Dad-" Jen started.
"N-not your mom and dad." Sicheng corrected.
"Mom and dad used you to...'get rid' of some defective models so the people I keep here are wary around you but, seeing your condition, you're nothing to be worried about."
"I'm sorry. Don't remember. Didn't want you hurt to guys." Jaemin wrapped his arms around himself and frowned.
"You're good. Give yourself a break, you look stressed out-right! I meant to ask why are you in danger?"
"The new Jaehyun was turned into kind of what Jaemin was but with perfectly good models. Jaemin defected in the sense that he took out his tracking chip and went offline because he felt too 'human'." Renjun explained.
"A metal I'm of hunk not just." It was getting worse.
"Hate to break it to you but, you are. We all are." Jen sighed and led him into the back room. RJ was reading a book to Project 1 and Jaemin shuddered at the sight. He stopped as he saw Jaehyun wave at him and furrowed his brow.
"You. tried. to. kill. me." Jaemin said. Renjun sighed and sat next to RJ, peering into his book.
"I've been here since I got replaced. I don't know what you mean, Jae."
"Your. Replacement."
"Are Taeyong and Doyoung okay? If my replacement tried to do that to you I don't want to imagine what it'd do to them."
"Don't know. Doyoung told me to leave." He spoke slowly, trying to get his sentences back to normal. "What happened to you? Why're you here?"
"Update gone wrong. They tried to update my system but something wasn't compatible with...something and I couldn't turn back on. Jen fixed me." Jaehyun said, clutching a stuffed animal of a dog.
"You go by Jen?" Jaemin asked.
"My name is Jeno but the Jeno you're used to is still breathing so I have to drop the o." He gave a bitter laugh. "How are mom and dad?"
"Backstabbing liars." He grumbled.
"Don't talk about my parents like that." Jen glared at him and Jaemin returned the stare.
"They reinforced Jaehyun to rip out cores. He chased me into the woods and she- Mrs.Lee- spoke through him, like a doll or something. She was taunting us before she attacked us. I don't know the rest since Doyoung had me run but I am so hurt. To think they cared feels like a bad joke."
"Do you think Jeno knows?" Renjun asked, looking over at the two.
"I hope not. If he does...Every moment we shared. Every conversation, every hug meant nothing. It was all a facade. If he knows he never actually cared about us, Renjun."
"I don't think he knows."
"And what if he does? What if he's all part of their little experiment? We don't matter to them-were disposable. Look at this room."
"T-There would be more of us if they hadn't used you to destroy the ones that ran." Sicheng said, sitting on the floor near the door.
"You were a prototype for Jaehyuns replacement." Jen said locking his hands together. "I watched you disassemble so many good models..." he trailed off, looking at the floor.
"I genuinely don't remember that, I'm sorry for it, it shouldn't have happened, but I'm someone else now."
"You're gonna die if you keep ignoring your core orders." Jaehyun said. "When they were working on me they kept saying that when I was...when I was with cinnamon, my system stopped processing properly and the emotional response was too strong for my brain to compete."
"It's like when a human thinks with their heart and not their head." RJ said, glancing up from his book.
"Exactly. Your brain can't process what you're feeling and you short out a bit, frying your brain a little. I was playing with cinnamon when a few wires shorted. It cut my vision, and I haven't been able to see clearly since. Jens tried everything. Anyway, I'm just saying it's dangerous to feel how you're feeling."
"I refuse to be reduced to something replaceable. I've made friends and relationships with people who think I'm a person and make me feel-I don't know-real."
"Jaemin, we aren't." Renjun sighed and put his head in his hands. "We're real, we just aren't human. You're going to have to put whatever little fantasy you're operating in away."
"Little fantasy?! I-" Jaemin scoffed as Renjun cut him off.
"I said put it away. We're in trouble with our lives on the line because of you, Jaemin. I hadn't done anything but I wanted to protect you. And because I wanted to protect you, I brought you somewhere where you could be safe."
"Why do you all reject the idea that we could be something more? Is it that bad? I just-I don't understand the issue here! Why wouldn't you want to be able to live like everybody else?"
"Because that's exactly what kills us." Jaehyun put the dog plushie to the side. "Jaemin, I shut down because of a dog. Was I the happiest when I was with that dog? Of course! But I was out of service for weeks. I might as well have been dead. It's not nice to hear but you're defective, Jaemin. Everything that's been going wrong with your system is because of your emotions. You've gotta stop until we can figure out what to do next. Please." Jaehyun grabbed his hand and frowned.
"Fine. I disagree with you guys but I will 'put it away'." He put his hands in his lap and sighed. What they were gonna do next was probably more important than his feelings anyway. For now at least.

(Today's been kinda crazy! Sorry for posting kinda late.)
(Thanks for reading! Love y'all 💚)