The next morning, Brenda barged into our rented room, slamming a makeshift blueprint down on the table.
“Alright, mates, listen up,” she declared, waving a half-eaten slice of lasagna like a baton. “Phase One of the Lasagna-Plushie Megacenter begins now.”
Hargrave, half-asleep, groaned. “Oh good. Another nightmare.”
Renovation Chaos
With zero permits and no skilled labor, Juan and Brenda took matters into their own hands.
Juan tried to paint the outside of the building but kept falling off the ladder. Eventually, he just dropped the bucket off the roof, coating a passing businessman in neon orange paint.
Brenda hired local teenagers to clear out the building in exchange for free lasagna—which Juan was cooking in a trash can in the alley.
“I think this is illegal,” I muttered to Hargrave.
“This?” he scoffed. “Try
everything they’ve ever done.”
The Malaysian Authorities Get Involved
By Day Three, the Malaysian government noticed.
An official-looking man in a suit showed up with a clipboard. “You do not have a business permit,” he informed Brenda.
She flashed her biggest, most insincere smile. “That’s an
optional step, mate.”
The official blinked. “No. No, it’s not.”
Brenda patted his shoulder. “Well, that’s just your opinion.”
Brenda’s New Catchphrase
At that moment, Juan burst out of the building, covered in plaster dust, holding a giant plush orangutan.
“We need
more plushies!” he yelled. “This is just a
baby empire, Brenda!”
Brenda threw an arm around Juan. “That’s right, mate. This is just a cheeky little banger of a global takeover!”
I groaned. “Please don’t make that a catchphrase.”
Too late.
The Plushie-Heist Escape Plan
By the end of the week, our building was condemned (again), our lasagna stand had been shut down for health code violations, and Interpol might have been involved.
It was time to leave.
“We’re not done here,” Brenda growled as we fled through Kuala Lumpur’s crowded streets. “Malaysia just wasn’t
ready for us.”
“So what now?” I asked.
Brenda grinned. “We take this banger of a global takeover to the next level.”
Hargrave sighed. “I regret my entire career.”
And with that, we boarded a plane to our next disaster.