I know that you can use a cigarette lighter, very briefly, to burn off the stuck-on ink off the ball… otherwise the ball will pop out because the ink behind it turns to steam, I assume.

I believe there’s a chemical (maybe isopropyl alcohol?) That you can apply to the ball to dissolve the ink as well.

Daaaaaamn. You win.

Sten is from the late 80s, Expendable from late 90s. :). And there’s a shaggy dog story in the Sten books that’s takes… 4 books, I think, to get the punchline. LOL.

Several books in the League of Peoples series (start with Expendable) have this. Festina Ramos is competent AF without going into Mary Sue territory.

The Sten series (Allan Cole & Chris Bunch, military-ish sci-fi) has a fantastically competent lead.

Dark humor is like food. Not everybody gets it.