A/N- This is just a fun fic to celebrate Christmas! All of it's going to get posted in the next few days. Rated T for violence, there's going to be quite a bit of hurt Mustang in the next chapter or so, but this chapter is mostly just fun. Hope you enjoy!
The house was beautifully decorated. The halls were sprinkled with glittering lights and gauzy "snow," and a tastefully ornamented Christmas tree was on display in the corner of the living room. There was mistletoe hanging from the ceiling, and evergreen boughs over every window. If not for the half-dried pool of blood slowly seeping into the tree skirt, it would have been the perfect Christmas tableaux.
"Evil Santa again?"
Riza turned around and shot Havoc a quelling look. That was the nickname that the squad had selected for the dangerous criminal they were trying to catch, and try as she might, she couldn't get them to find a more suitable name.
Not that she was trying very hard. It was Christmas time, and she couldn't bring herself to forbid them from having a bit of fun. But using the irreverent nickname at an actual crime scene was something else entirely.
Havoc caught her eye and looked slightly ashamed. Beside him, Breda struggled to hide a snicker. Riza resolutely ignored the both of them and answered Havoc's original question.
"It seems to be the same criminal we're tracking, yes. Preliminary investigation shows that this fits his MO."
"There's signs of a robbery?" Havoc asked, glancing around for evidence.
"Upstairs," Riza said. "Like the others. He seems to have broken in, despite the family being at home. There were more bodies upstairs, and it seems that some valuables are missing."
Havoc grimaced. Breda's expression was characteristically indecipherable, but Riza thought he seemed bothered as well.
This time, Riza was in full agreement. The man they were trying to catch was ruthless, and what's more, intelligent. He'd started his crime spree a year ago, when the military in East City was thinned out with holiday leave. Then, once the Christmas season was over, he'd disappeared.
But one Christmas later, he was back, and this time it was their team's job to catch him.
"Do they have anything yet that'll help us catch this guy?" Havoc asked hopefully. "It'd be nice to get this done by the time we go on leave. I bet my sister would like to hear about how her big brother caught a dangerous criminal…."
Breda chuckled. "Havoc's trying to impress his sister for once. Makes a nice change."
Havoc rolled his eyes. "There aren't any girls in my hometown I wanna date. Duh."
Riza shook her head, amused by their unusually high spirits. "The Colonel should be here soon. Hopefully, he'll have some new information for us."
It was another few minutes before Mustang arrived, and the look on his face didn't bode well for their investigation.
"No clues?" Havoc said, sounding slightly disappointed.
Mustang glared at him, rather unnecessarily, Riza thought.
"Does it look like I have good news?" Mustang snapped. Havoc shrugged, sulking a little.
"Sorry for asking," he said, somewhat insincerely. Mustang glared at him again, then looked at all three of them.
"This criminal has become top priority," Mustang said shortly. "All of you, me included, are going to be working overtime. You'll have the 24th and the 25th off, but that's all."
Havoc looked as though Mustang had canceled Christmas entirely. Which, Riza supposed, he had. She knew that many of the squad still went home for the holidays, Havoc included. The Christmas season was one of the few times a year he saw his family. Like Mustang, Riza didn't really have any family left. Shortening her Christmas leave didn't affect her much, although she knew it would deeply upset the rest of her team.
It bothered Havoc enough that he disregarded his superior's black mood, and he opened his mouth to protest. Riza shook her head at him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Only two days? Colonel, I haven't seen my parents for a year-"
"My parents are dead," Mustang snapped at him. "Grow up. You'll survive with only two days' leave." He turned away from Havoc, the second lieutenant's expression an interesting mix of indignant and upset, and focused in on Riza.
"What have you found?" Mustang asked. "Any additional clues?"
Riza was having a hard time forming an answer with Havoc standing behind Mustang looking like he might burst into tears. And Riza had been looking forward to a few extra days off work, if just to catch up on sleep, not that she would ever admit that to anyone….
Riza shook herself slightly. Catching a dangerous criminal with an ever-growing body count was certainly more important than her rest and relaxation. It was also more important than Havoc's family time, as much as she knew he believed differently. Their job was to serve Amestris, whatever that might take, they had known that when they'd signed up. They couldn't leave a dangerous criminal on the streets just because they didn't feel like catching him.
"No, sir, we haven't found any clues that get us closer to his identity. All we've managed to do is determine that it is in fact the same criminal from last year. But we haven't finished looking through the upstairs, and we're still trying to determine exactly what's missing."
"How many deaths?"
"Four, sir."
"That brings it up to thirteen victims between this year and last year," Mustang muttered darkly.
"Yes, sir. Would you like to go over the second floor of the house again with us?"
"Hang on," Havoc said suddenly. "You...you're not going to say anything to him? Come on, Lieutenant, you can't let him do this to us!"
Riza bit her lip slightly. She wished there was something she could do to help Havoc, she really did. But it seemed like Mustang was getting pressure put on him from someone higher up, and there really was nothing she could do about that. And he seemed to be in a foul mood on top of it all; she was nervous to cross him. She felt helpless.
Riza was still searching for the words that would calm Havoc while impressing on him the severity of the situation when Mustang whirled on him.
"Lieutenant Havoc, I do not want to hear another word out of you unless it pertains to the case!" Mustang said angrily. "Your duties to this country are more important than your holiday entertainment, and this decision is final."
"But sir-"
Mustang silenced him with a glare, and then turned abruptly and started heading up the stairs, towards the rest of the bodies. Riza saw Havoc and Breda exchange a frightened, angry glance.
"Let him get a little ahead," Riza said quietly, watching his back disappear up the stairs. Breda and Havoc both waited, eyeing her carefully.
"Lieutenant, you can't let him do this," Havoc said as soon as he was out of earshot. "I already bought tickets home, and my mom is making Christmas dinner…."
"This order is coming from higher up than him, and there's nothing I can do," Riza said sadly. "But if we can solve this case fast enough, maybe you'll still have time to take a few days of leave at the end of the week. So just...let's just do our jobs, alright?"
Havoc nodded unhappily, and the three of them followed Mustang up to the second floor.
Mustang's back stiffened as he heard the stairs creak under his squad's weight. He promised himself that if Havoc opened his mouth one more time, he'd dock his pay for the whole month. Merry fucking Christmas.
It wasn't like he was happy about cutting short his men's time off. He wasn't a sadist. But his own superiors had just spent the morning yelling at him to catch the criminal, and Fullmetal had been humming carols off-key for the better part of a week, and everyone around him was so irritatingly happy….
He didn't hate Christmas, not necessarily. But the whole of East City was decorated with lights and presents and oppressive good cheer, everyone ready to spend time with family and friends. Since Mustang didn't have many of those, he usually spent Christmas alone.
Not that that was a bad thing. He enjoyed the time off work, but he usually found himself itching to be back at the office long before his leave was over. Getting his time cut to only two days didn't affect him nearly as much as it did the others.
But orders were orders, and Havoc had no right to make such a fuss. It's not like Mustang could do anything about it. Expecting otherwise was just disrespectful.
Mustang's anger rose again, and he let it come. As long as he was angry at Havoc, at Breda, even at Riza, he wouldn't have to think about the reasoning behind his foul mood.
"Sir?" It was Riza's voice, gentle and non-accusatory. As it was meant to, it calmed him, and he turned around, determined not to let his temper get the better of him.
But Havoc was standing behind Riza, looking wounded. Breda, too, had a shade of disappointment in his face. Like this was somehow Mustang's fault.
Mustang took a deep breath and addressed Riza, doing his best to ignore the two men. "I haven't found anything so far," he said, turning.
"Perhaps the military police will find something," Riza said softly. "We should take the new information back to the rest of the team. And besides…."
She trailed off, but Mustang knew what she hadn't said. The rest of his men still had to be informed that they wouldn't be getting their time off. Not that he wanted to be the bearer of that bad news, judging by how Havoc and Breda had received it. Maybe he'd make Havoc do it, then he could be the bad guy….
Riza was right. Mustang didn't have any idea what he was looking for, and he didn't want to poke through the ruins of a family's happiness any more than he had to. So he nodded at her, swung around, and marched back down the stairs.
Mustang's car sputtered and coughed all the way back to Eastern Command, releasing greasy clouds of foul black smoke that did nothing to lighten his mood. Finally, after hitting what had to be every red light in East City, he pulled into the parking lot and slammed the door open.
It was cold, another reason to hate this time of year. He shivered slightly and made his way to the door, forced to move slowly because of the patches of ice scattered across the pavement. He glared at the shiny puddles, idly considering pulling out his gloves and melting them. Just because he could.
But Riza, Havoc, and Breda were already back. By this time, they'd likely broken the news to the rest of the squad. He shuddered. If he walked in that door and Fuery was crying, he was going to turn around and walk right out again. And one word out of Havoc…. He almost hoped the second lieutenant would disobey him, or even disagree with him. He wanted to yell at someone, to take the sting out of the lecture he'd received this morning.
He made his way up to his office, where the rest of the squad was waiting. They were already working on the case; Riza was filling out a thorough report of the house they had just examined, and the other four were poring over the reports from the previous year, looking for anything that could lead them to the person responsible. The mood in the office was subdued. Even though Fuery, Falman, Havoc, and Breda were all working together, they were barely talking. Everything was quiet.
Mustang narrowed his eyes slightly. It was too quiet. He'd spent the last week and a half listening to off-key Christmas carols sung by Fullmetal and occasionally Alphonse, so constant he'd barely had a damn moment to think. The fact that there was no singing could only mean one thing - that the Elrics hadn't arrived yet.
As the only other alchemist on Mustang's team, Ed was just as necessary to the investigation as the rest of them were, which meant he also wouldn't be getting any extra time off. Mustang knew he and Alphonse had bought tickets back to Resembool, but they wouldn't be using them. Well, he supposed Alphonse could use them, Mustang didn't have the power to order him to stay, and he wouldn't anyway. But he didn't think Alphonse would be going home without his brother, and that meant both of the Elrics were going to be staying in East City this Christmas.
Mustang had hoped the kids would have already arrived, and someone else would be able to explain the situation to them. Mustang didn't want to do it. He'd had enough of people being mad at him today, and he could already see the shocked injustice that would be in the Elrics' eyes when he told them….
Mustang didn't want to think too hard about this. He wished Christmas just...wasn't happening, so he could pretend this was just a normal weekend and then everyone would get right back to work after it was done.
He turned to Riza. "Can we...take all these down?" he said, gesturing widely at the office, which had been decorated with Christmas lights and paper chains a few days before. He didn't want them up anymore, all of a sudden. He didn't want all these reminders of Christmas constantly staring him in the face.
"Sir?"
"Did you mishear me, Lieutenant? I want these decorations taken down."
Riza sighed. "Sir, that's really not how it works. They're supposed to stay up until after Christmas. It's only the 23rd."
Mustang fought to keep his voice level. He knew he was being irrational, but he didn't care. "But today's the last day we're spending in the office before Christmas, we won't be enjoying them tomorrow or the day after. So why can't we just take them down now? What does it matter? We won't want them up on the 26th, and we don't have a person to waste removing them then either."
Riza looked at the ground, which startled Mustang. She always looked him in the eyes when she spoke, if she didn't it meant she was upset. "They're helping to boost morale, sir," she said finally, very softly. "They're helping us stay in the Christmas spirit."
"Fine," Mustang snarled, and retreated behind his desk. He dropped into his chair, knowing he looked petulant but unable to stop himself. In the office before him, his men ducked their heads and returned to their work, unwilling to meet his eye.
Ed pulled his coat closer around his shoulders, but he didn't really mind the cold. Not when the city was sparkling with lights, and there was music coming from every shop, when people were smiling at each other for no apparent reason. He glanced at Al beside him, and although there was no expression on the armor's blank face, he thought that his brother was just as happy.
Today was the last day he and Al would be in East City. Starting tomorrow, they had a whole week off, and Al had managed to convince him to get tickets home.
Home. It had been quite a while since they'd been back to Resembool. Ed didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, but he was beginning to feel a little homesick. Winry and Pinako had invited (ordered) the Elrics to stay with them for Christmas, and Al had pressed Ed until he gave in. The Philosopher's Stone wasn't going anywhere, they could take a week.
And for the first time in what seemed like forever, but could only be a few years, Ed was excited for Christmas. He'd be with family, or almost-family, and he'd be home, and he wouldn't have to worry about Al or himself. It sounded like a nice break.
Al made a noise beside him, and Ed turned, surprised. "What is it, Al?"
"Nothing," Al said, and Ed heard a smile in his voice. "It's just that you're humming again."
"Why wouldn't I?" Ed demanded. "It's Christmas! One more day, and we're free of that bastard for an entire WEEK. A whole week where no one tells us what to do, or nags at us…."
Al snickered. "Brother, we're staying with Granny Rockbell."
"Yeah, but I can tell her to shut up without getting court-martialed," Ed pointed out. The outline of Eastern Command appeared ahead of him. For once, he didn't slow his pace. This day wouldn't be so bad, because it was the last one. He could handle one day. Still grinning, Ed swept into the building and made his way down the halls, trailing Al behind him.
As soon as he opened the door to the office, he knew something was wrong. Usually, the squad would already be shouting about some new argument, paperwork cluttering the desks while they struggled to meet an arbitrary deadline. Mustang would be in the back, smirking as he avoided doing any work whatsoever, and Hawkeye would be calmly rotating throughout the room.
But Havoc, Fuery, Falman, and Breda were silent, staring at their work. Riza was at her own desk, looking vaguely dissatisfied. Mustang sat slumped in his chair, scribbling furiously at a stack of paperwork. When Ed entered, he glanced up and his face immediately fell into a scowl.
That explained the silence. Mustang looked to be in a vicious mood. Ordinarily, Ed would do his best to worry the Colonel's tattered temper until it frayed entirely, but he didn't want to do anything to ruin today. He was too excited about his week off to let the Colonel get in his way.
"Fullmetal," Mustang said sourly. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence."
Ed was only a few minutes late, but he wasn't going to rise to Mustang's needling. So he just shrugged and slumped into a chair in front of Mustang's desk, whistling a Christmas carol as he did so.
"Stop whistling," Mustang hissed, his eyes narrowing. Ed whistled a few more bars, but Mustang's eyes flashed dangerously and he stopped.
"I heard there was another house hit," Ed said, deciding to play the good little soldier and get this over with as soon as possible.
"There was," Mustang said, and seemed to be steeling himself to say something unpleasant. "In fact, the military has now deemed this case to be top priority. Meaning, of course, that the leave for this office has been cut back to two days."
Ed stared blankly at Mustang, sure that he had to be joking. "Two...two days?"
Mustang nodded. "You will be expected to report back to Eastern Command on December 26th."
Beside him, Ed heard Al make a little noise of distress. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, hands on Mustang's desk.
"You've got to be kidding me! We have tickets home- Winry's expecting us-"
Mustang cut him off flatly. "As I was just attempting to explain to Lieutenant Havoc, your duty to Amestris is more important than your travel plans."
"I'm not even a proper soldier!" Ed yelled, trying to keep the whine out of his voice. "And this means that Al won't be able to go home either…."
"Alphonse is certainly welcome to return to Resembool on his own if he wishes."
Ed swallowed hard, irrationally afraid that he was about to start crying, right here in front of the entire team. He bit down on his lip, trying to control himself. He would not give Mustang the satisfaction.
"I'm staying with Brother!" Al said firmly from behind him, and Ed felt his heart tighten painfully.
"You're a bastard!" Ed yelled at Mustang, knowing he sounded like a toddler throwing a tantrum but not caring in the slightest. "You're a monster! Why do you hate Christmas?"
"Edward, control yourself!"
This was not Mustang speaking, but Riza. He whirled towards her, completely shocked that Riza, Riza, could be taking Mustang's side in all this, when he was doing something that was clearly so unfair, so wrong….
But her face was gentle, and a little sad. He couldn't yell at Riza, that wouldn't be fair, she was probably the only thing keeping the bastard Colonel from working the entire team into the ground. None of this was her fault. But shouldn't she still be able to help him?
"But he-" Ed felt his voice rising again, his pulse thrumming in his ears. Riza lifted her hand to quiet him.
"Look over the case report today, so you can get a sense of the investigations we're doing. Lieutenant Havoc is working on them now. Just...do your best to help solve the case. I have to go make a phone call, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Ed watched her leave the room, trying to calm his breathing and wishing his hands would stop shaking quite so bad. He didn't want to turn around and look at Mustang again. He was worried he would "accidentally" punch him in the face.
"It's fine, Brother," Al said quietly, coming up behind him. "We can...we can do something nice here in East City, and I'm sure we'll be able to visit Winry and Granny again soon…."
"You could always go home still," Ed said. "There's no reason for your Christmas to be ruined too, and we already bought tickets…."
"I'm not leaving you."
Ed sighed, frustrated that Al was refusing to leave, glad that he didn't have to be alone. He walked over to the table where the others were working, peering over Havoc's shoulder at the case report. He didn't really understand why he was even involved in this, he'd be able to help catch the criminal once they actually figured out who it was, but he wasn't any good at investigations….
"I'm sorry, Ed," Havoc said, not even bothering to be quiet, even though Mustang was still seated at his desk. "We're all upset too."
Mustang shot Havoc an evil look, but the second lieutenant ignored his superior and tried his best to smile at Ed.
"We're all gonna be here too," Havoc said, deliberately not looking at Mustang. "We...we'll figure it out, okay Chief?"
Ed nodded, feeling the backs of his eyes prickle again. He blinked furiously and nodded at Havoc. Havoc's smile turned into something more genuine, and Ed thought he might feel a little better.
"Havoc, if you're not back at work in thirty seconds-"
Ed growled slightly as the second lieutenant ducked his head over the paperwork. But one glance at Mustang's scowl changed his mind. They'd pushed the Colonel far enough, and even Ed didn't want to find out what he'd do if they tried anything else. So he shut his mouth and carefully looked over the case files that Havoc handed him, keeping Riza's words in mind. Maybe he and Al could still make it home.
A few hours later, Ed was starting to realize that he wouldn't make it to Resembool this year. The squad seemed to have no idea who this guy was or where he was hiding, and Ed certainly didn't have any ideas about how to find him.
He placed his head on the desk and groaned, then shot a guilty glance in Mustang's direction, expecting to be yelled at by the irascible Colonel. But Mustang's chair was empty. He must have left the office at some point when Ed was absorbed in the investigation.
Ed snorted. He should have known the Colonel was gone, no one had been yelled at for a few minutes. He didn't know what was wrong with Mustang today, but he was even more difficult to deal with than usual.
And usually, he was a nightmare.
Ed scowled at the files stacked in front of him. He wasn't an investigator, and he wasn't making any progress. He didn't even know why he was here. Ed frowned, thinking of how happy he'd been this morning, when this was his last day in the office for a week and he was going home to Resembool. He let his head fall back to the desk and clenched his fists, imagining punching Mustang in the face (preferably with his automail). That mental image would probably be the best thing about this holiday season, he thought glumly.
Riza looked up from her desk and glanced at Ed, who was slumped morosely over his paperwork. His brother's expression didn't change, but of course it never did. However, Al had hardly said anything since Mustang had told them the bad news.
Riza's lips flattened. She felt sorry for the rest of the squad, but not nearly as much as she did for the Elrics. Havoc and Breda would get over the inconvenience, but the Elric brothers were children. That was easy to forget, at times, but Mustang couldn't expect them to behave as adults. True, Ed had sacrificed a lot of that freedom by becoming a dog of the military, but the boys had had a long year.
Despite Ed's protests, Riza knew how close they were to Winry. She and her grandmother were the closest thing the boys had to family, and it had been a long time since the Elrics had gone home. She wished with all her heart that she had been able to make things turn out differently.
But as it was, she would try the best she could to make this Christmas a little better for the Elrics. And the boost in morale couldn't hurt the rest of the squad, either.
Riza forced a smile onto her face and stood up from her desk. Heads turned to her, looking vaguely interested.
"We may not have the entire week," Riza said gently, "but it's still the last day of work before Christmas. We were planning to celebrate…."
Ed's head snapped up, his eyes looking almost hopeful. Havoc looked at Ed, then turned to Riza. He grinned at her, and Riza no longer had to force her own smile.
"Yeah, come on guys. It's Christmas!" He dropped his voice in an aside to Ed, no doubt assuming that Riza couldn't hear him. "And just think of how much celebrating is gonna annoy the Colonel…."
Ed laughed, and Riza held back a chuckle of her own. Then, she started unbuttoning her military jacket. Ed stared at her in confusion, but behind him, she saw Havoc's eyes light up with recognition. He started unbuttoning his jacket too.
Ed scrunched his face up a little bit, and Riza smiled slightly. She was glad she'd had the foresight to prepare a few Christmassy things for the Elrics days in advance, because she knew no one in the squad would have the energy to pull off something like that now.
"The Colonel is not going to like this when he comes back in," Havoc said.
Riza shrugged slightly. She had told the Colonel what they were doing, but he had been in a better mood then and he had still essentially ignored her. Havoc was right, he probably wasn't going to be happy. But it was unfair of him to force the rest of the squad to be miserable just because he was, and Riza wasn't going to stand for that.
Ed cracked a genuine smile when he realized that under her jacket, instead of her usual turtleneck, Riza was wearing a red sweater with a Christmas tree on it. Riza watched Ed look around and realize that the rest of the squad had also been wearing Christmas sweaters under their jackets. None of them looked as happy as they had the previous day, when they'd first agreed to wear Christmas sweaters to work, but they'd all remembered, at least. The atmosphere in the office had tangibly relaxed once the jackets had come off, and Riza saw a few sincere smiles among the rest of the men.
"This is great," Ed said, grinning. "I wish I'd been in on it though, then I'd have worn something too…."
"It's alright, we have something for you," Riza said. She opened the drawer of office supplies in the Colonel's desk, where she'd hidden two Santa hats for the Elrics, a normal-sized one for Ed and a larger one that she'd had to custom-order for Al. She put the smaller one on Ed, smiling a little as his face lit up, then reached up and put the other one on Al, who made a small, pleased sound of excitement.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Al said happily, reaching up to adjust his hat a little. "I haven't...I haven't had one of these in years…."
"Yeah, thanks!" Ed said excitedly, looking for all the world like a little elf with his Santa hat and red coat.
"We have Christmas cookies too," Riza said. "I can go get them, Fuery made them last night-"
"What is the meaning of this?"
Riza whipped around. Mustang was standing in the doorway of the room, eyes narrowed in displeasure. To her surprise, he was glaring at Ed, as if he thought the kid had somehow instigated this.
Riza drew herself up to her full height. She had checked with the Colonel before she had planned this, and he had said it was fine for there to be a small celebration the last day in the office. Of course, he had been much happier himself then, and she wasn't entirely sure he had been paying attention to her….
"Sir," she said, preparing to defend the Elrics and the rest of the squad, and assure him that they could still work just as productively while also having a little fun. But before she could get more than one word out, he cut across her.
"Out of uniform? During work hours? What is the meaning of this? And I don't see any of you working on the case."
"Sir," Riza said again, more firmly this time. "These sweaters aren't doing anyone any harm. As I'm sure you recall, I talked to you about this just last week, and you agreed that this would be a good stress-reliever. I can assure you, we'll continue to work on the case."
Mustang's eyes narrowed, and Riza knew even before he opened his mouth that she'd lost.
"What I said last week is irrelevant," Mustang said carefully and quietly. "The situation has changed, and we need to devote every ounce of focus to the case at hand."
Ed opened his mouth to protest, and Riza silenced him with a look. As irritable as the Colonel was, if Ed spoke out against him, the consequences would be dire.
"Colonel-"
Mustang spun on Havoc with rage in his eyes. "Silence," he snarled. Havoc's mouth shut with an audible click that would have been funny in another situation. Riza froze, but Mustang took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He glared around at the squad, as if daring any of them to contradict him.
No one did. Mustang stalked to his desk, turning briefly before he sat down to glare at the squad again. "Take those damn sweaters off," he said shortly. "I want this to be a professional atmosphere, you're all a disgrace."
Looking crushed, the team began to put their jackets back on, buttoning them up slowly. Fuery looked like he was fighting to hold back tears and losing the battle, as he cast a wounded look in the direction of Mustang's desk. Riza saw Havoc shoot him a sympathetic glance, but it was clear the second lieutenant didn't dare to speak again.
Riza let a deep breath out through her nose, aware that she was beginning to lose her temper. True, it wasn't Mustang's fault that their leave had been cut short, but his present orders seemed to spring from nothing but his own foul mood. He was upset at something, and he was taking it out on his men. And worse, on the Elrics. Ed, already disappointed by Mustang's orders to stay in East City, now looked absolutely crushed. Riza watched him sadly remove the Santa hat she'd placed on his head and came to a decision. It was past time she had a word with the Colonel.