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"Smile, asshole!"
Short (from Aliens: Colonial Marines)

Private[citation needed] Demarcus Short was a member of the United States Colonial Marine Corps. He was part of a search and rescue mission sent to Acheron (LV-426) aboard the USS Sephora in 2179 to investigate the disappearance of the USS Sulaco and its crew 17 weeks earlier. He is one of the playable co-operative characters in the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Demarcus Short was a member of the United States Colonial Marine Corps in 2179. He served in Corporal Christopher Winter's team, led by Captain Jeremy Cruz aboard the USS Sephora. In 2179 the Marines from the Sephora were deployed aboard the USS Sulaco to investigate what happened to its crew.

Aboard the Sulaco[]

Despite and explosion, Short along with Corporal Winter, and Privates Quintaro, and Redding mate it aboard the Sulaco. Their mission was to retrieve the flight recorder data and find Rhino 2-3 Keyes.

They regrouped with Peter O'Neal and Paluski who where trying to both help wounded Marines. After tracking an unidentified signal to the south, they went as a team into the hanger bay, where they found the Synthetic Lance Bishop's legs. Continuing through the corridors to the hypersleer chamber where four tubes were missing, they walker into an area where the Xenomorph had created a Hive. They managed to find Keyes, but unbeknownst to the team he was impregnated by a Facehugger and had a Chestburster inside him. After saving Keyes, they also managed to find the ship's flight recorder, and then regrouped with O'Neal and Paluski in the hangar, where they where fending off numerous Xenomorphs. After a firefight they all retreated into the airlock to cross the umbilical back to the Sephora.

Stranded aboard the Sulaco[]

However before they could reach the Sephora, Keyes had a chestburster hatch out of his stomach and he detonated the airlock witch cost him and the life of Paluski, but with the exception of Short, Winter, O'Neal, Quintaro and Redding, but lost the flight-rec recorder and Keyes who had it on him.

After the death of Sergeant Keyes, the group managed to find their own way out, but they found everything was time-stamped after they received the distress signal, but they also later heard another marine, Bella Clarison was still alive, but had been impregnated by a facehugger that was already dead, as the surviving team managed to defend their way past numerous Xenomorphs that attacked them before they reached the main hanger, where Raider 6-5 Lieutenant Reid came in with at least a small squad of marines to go search for Bella, but with the arrival of Weyland-Yutani forces on the Sulaco. prevented them to rescue Bella, so Winter and the rest of the group including Short had to go rescue Bella instead, but however Reid's dropship and the marines in the hanger managed to hold off the Weyland-Yutani forces while they went to rescue Bella and head to the Sulaco's bridge.

However they was trouble as the Sulaco was firing heavy ordinance at the Sephora if they didn't reach the bridge in time then they would be trouble, they managed to fight their way past the Yutani forces and reached the bridge, but they were too late and the reactor to the Sephora caused the destruction of the ship over LV-426 with the destruction of the Sephora, they was half a dozen marines that evacuated the Sephora but lost others who perished aboard the Sephora in the explosion or either escaped, however Short and the rest of the team managed to evacuate to the Hanger Bay fighting past the Yutani and the Xenomorph's which on the way to the Hangar Bay the Sulaco was falling apart, they reached the Hangar Bay where Reid, Cruz, and Klassen where waiting for them, before that they escaped the Sulaco and began to land on the planet LV-426 where it crashed.

Stranded on LV-426[]

Short and the others recovered from the crash whom where both Short, Cruz, Bishop, Winter, O'Neal, Bella, Reid, Quintaro, and Redding, Cruz suggested to travel to a colony called Hadley's Hope what was left of it, as they entered the facility, and reached the Operations, Cruz gave them their duty's, Bella and Reid would head out to the Comm Relay Tower, and their call out all their boys, while Cruz and Bishop would start diagnostics on the systems that would boot up, Short, with Winter and O'Neal, would help plant motion sensors that can monitor from their they did eventually plant all monitor sensors and one had to be rest in the Morgue, but even as the arriving aliens started to arrive, Short and the others retreated back to Operations, where they helped Cruz, and Bishop, after getting the turret at the ammo stash and setting it up to defend the Operations Center, Cruz later ordered, Short, Winter, O'Neal, Quintaro, and Redding through the sewer lines to link up at the relay tower whole on their way through the sewer tunnels, they was trouble and they soon encountered an unknown Xenomorph type known as the Raven captured both Short, Winter, Quintaro, and Redding with them, but except for O'Neal who escaped.

As they where captured by the Raven, Short and the others where nearly cocooned before they could be impregnated, the Raven started to stare at them, but before being able to kill them, it eventually heard noises and went to find what was going on, eventually buying both Short, Winter, Quintaro, and Redding time to escape, which they escaped under the floors, however even as the Raven tried to catch up to them, they managed to escape through the vent, they also found a Marine from the Sulaco, Private William Hudson who was found dead, they had to move also extra carefully later because of alien Boiler's living down there. They made it safely but later however the Raven was coming close towards them as they had to shut the doors and seal them up, and finally reaching O'Neal and later they reached outside the facility and managed to hold off the Xenomorphs that began attacking them, they also found Bella, and Reid and managed to head to the Hangar, after again when Bella and Reid where separated once again, O'Neal got missing, they managed to make a run to the gate and Winter found a loader where in the end, Winter successfully managed to kill the Raven, but however Bella was cross at Reid since she let O'Neal out on his own to die, but O'Neal convinced Bella that she made her call, and after getting the Comm Tower up and ready, they made it back to Operations.

Saving Bella[]

Short went with Winter, O'Neal, Bella, Quintaro, and Redding to find a way to help save Bella from her impregnation she had, and if a surgeon from Weyland-Yutani could help save her life, on the way to the Weyland-Yutani base, Winter was forced to stop driving because they could not go any further up any more terrain they fought their way across more aliens managed to try not being spotted by Yutani forces as they reached the Yutani facility without being undetected but being attacked by more aliens to come, and later past the security of Yutani which didn't alert them, and managed to find a personnel manifest at the facility, where Winter passed the data to Cruz, however this alerted security and also many Yutani forces began ambushing the team, which Short and the team had to make it unharmed and to an elevator to below ground.

On the way down, Cruz told Winter and mentioned USCM Marine from the Sulaco survived, to Short's relief, it was found he was being held hostage by Weyland-Yutani forces, however O'Neal wouldn't go all that way to save one man, but Bella promised him and so did Cruz on radio, "We do not leave Marines behind." a rule in the USCM, and also to save his life, O'Neal obliged.

Death of Bella Clarison[]

As Short and the rest of the team past more Xenomorph and Yutani forces they managed to make it past them undetected and managed to reach towards the lab they reached the facility and their O'Neal caught and captured a Surgeon who which O'Neal told him about Bella who had a facehugger, and it was impossible to save her which as the Surgeon said because it means the placenta was like a weed rooting itself every organ inside Bella's chest it means it is like a cancer and maybe Bella Clarison will die if trying to save her life.

As Bella said her farewell to O'Neal, a chestburster hatched out of her chest which O'Neal shot it but said and murmured to Bella and said goodbye to her in the end.

Finding Corporal Hicks[]

After Bella Clarison's death, Cruz told Rhino 2-1 O'Neal their new mission is to save the captured Marine from the Sulaco they managed to continue on the mission minus Bella, they disabled security and all Yutani forces through the facility and without triggering the alarms which they took out all the forces even they also managed to take down a APC by using the crane and it's payload later on they managed to reach a backup module which O'Neal told Winter about a simple shutdown could cycle back immediately so Winter, Short, Quintaro, and Redding went to turn off the regulator caps in the cells so it won't cause or trigger security after taking out all of the regulator cpas they where able to continue finding the marine.

They then managed to fight their way past more security but however they saw the captured Queen which broke free killing many Yutani scientist in that room and later getting past more Yutani forces, and getting across the facility to reach the captured marine, as later on after getting past Xenomorph and Yutani forces, they got to the captured marine and managed to save his life, O'Neal was very cross that Cruz knew about him before he authorized it an was never about Bella, Short and the team headed in the APC back to Hadley's Hope.

Upon arriving back at Hadley's Hope, Short, Winter, O'Neal, Quintaro, and Redding where real angry and pissed at Cruz, demanding to know the truth form O'Neal and why his girl whom he loved Bella died, Cruz knew that Bella was going to die and they wasn't anything they could have done to save her, and as Winter asked why they saved their own skins to save that marine, O'Neal demanded to know who he was, as Cruz ordered to remove the bag off him, it was indeed in fact, Corporal Dwayne Hicks the only sole survivor form the Sulaco that was left, he told them how he was held by Yutani for months, and Bishop told Hicks why he was alive but his file was closed originally K.I.A. at Fury 161, and that they was a distress call even as Yutani had kept Hicks alive because he might have information, O'Neal broke conversation but Cruz told him about Hicks when it was already too god damn late, he apologized and felt bad about Bella Clarison's life, but told him they had a prisoner in that facility for weeks and Wey-Yu had an FTL ship on the planet, he needed to save the other hundred marines if they where any left to get them off LV-426, Hicks told them about the last FTL would leave but wouldn't come back, but Reid told Cruz that they was two squads of Marines they needed to save at Hadley's Hope.

Saving Marines[]

In almost thirty seconds the horizon would turn black and the most dangerous killing machines would soon attack, while Reid, Hicks, went to the APC, Short, along with Winter, Cruz, O'Neal, Short, and Redding and managed to kill many other aliens by fighting their way to the Operations as they got inside safely, Cruz gave orders to both Winter rand his team to use motion-trackers to check for surviving marines, apparently they saw one marine who was killed instantly by a Xenomorph, but they carried on to find any other marines left in the base, eventually they found one marine and rescued him from the debris and helped him to his feet, finding C. Duplis, Duke, Clark, and A. Duplis as well. before regrouping with Cruz, where their new objective to find the Vehicle Bay and which was their new OPS center.

As they reached the Vehicle Bay and Setup a defense perimeter but suddenly Xenomorphs began swarming in the room but managed to fend the room off full of aliens with the help of Short, Winter, O'Neal, Cruz, Quintaro, Redding and A. Duplis as well, after defending the Vehicle Bay the survivors managed to head to Reid's position where a dropship was waiting, they ran into trouble with a Crusher but they managed to take it down after the beast was very hard to kill, and continued to rendezvous with Reid and Hicks at the drop pad, as they reached the landing platform Reid gave the order to disconnect the dropships fuel lines, but as much of more Xenomorph's started arriving, Hicks helped in the fighting, after eliminating all the remaining Xenos, and with Raider 6-5 taking down all of the Xenos, after the battle they was a meeting, Cruz welcomed Hicks to the Sephora crew, however Bishop told Hicks and asked him how he survived, Corporal Hicks mentioned that how Samwell Stone and Turk woke him out of Cryo as the only ranking marine, but that the ship was on alert because of Michael Weyland's PMC's that illegally boarded the ship, however meaning how that Ellen Ripley, Rebecca "Newt" Jorden and Lance Bishop and the man namesake as Hicks, Turk who was knocked into his tube, Winter asked who it was, but Hicks told Winter it was a longer story, but Cruz told they had to take the facility and get an FTL ship the only way they would be able to escape LV-436 alive.

Battle of the Weyland-Yutani Research Facility[]

Short and the team went to eh Research Facility and their they would take the last FTL ship before it left the planet, but as Winter told Reid about a ship which was carrying a Queen, Reid was unable to take it down since they had to take out anti-aircraft turrets in the facility, Short, along with Winter, O'Neal, Hicks, Quintaro, and Redding went through the base even passing Hive infested areas, numerous Facehuggers, Xenomorphs as well, after getting through that, they went again out into daylight, and their they went to destroy the AA Guns, to allow both Raider 6-5 Reid and Raider 6-8, Ruiz because of heavy fire they where firing at them, they had to take down the AA Guns to allow them to get past, they took the first AA Gun down, but they was two more to take down.

As the team went to an elevator they managed to head to lower ground and take out more Xenomorph aliens, and Yutani forces that had began to attack them, they managed to reach the second gun where they was three marines taking cover from a large army of Yutani forces, but where saved by Winter, Short, and the team, they then took out the second AA Gun, and then later the next one where Yutani and Xenomorphs where attacking them, as Raider 6-8 began to engage but was shot down by the AA Gun, then the team took down the third and final AA Gun, which allowed Reid to take down the shop carrying the Queen which seemingly killed the Queen, Cruz soon gave the orders to go find Ruiz's dropship and any survivors in the crash.

As the team found Ruiz and Daggs, at Raider 6-8's crashed site, they saved the team but however it was found the Queen wasn't dead, and broke always from the crashed ship, however it cost the life of Daggs as he was stabbed by her tail whip, but however they did manage to save Ruiz alive and had to try surviving the Queen, as Cruz told they shouldn't engage the Quwwn, they had to go to the FTL ship to stop it from launching, Winter, Short, O'Neal, Quintaro, Hicks, Ruiz, and Redding went to a dropship where Raider 6-5 Reid would be waiting for them, as they thought their way past a lot more Xenomorph aliens, they managed to reach the FTL Ship but where too late, but they had to go into Reid's dropship and take the FTL ship.

As they took off, they managed to breach the hull of the FTL's hangar and crash land into the ship, but Cruz was injured and too week to carry on.

Leaving LV-426 and attacking the Queen[]

With Cruz barely unable to carry on, he ordered the rest of the team to escape, Reid asked where Cruz was, told her he would be a decoy, but they might have been a way to save Cruz, but it wasn't long as they evacuated Reid, Bishop, O'Neal, and Hicks, because the Queen secretly boarded with half of her Xenomorph children on board.

With the Queen that emerged, Winter, Short, Quintaro, and Redding however where unable to kill her but had to set the booby trap for her by using a Cargo Launcher for mid-air supply drops by setting it manually, however they managed to do it in the end and they defeated the Queen, even by killing off some Xenomorphs that boarded but the Queen got onboard with a lot of cover firepower given from either Short, Quintaro, or Redding whatever it made to decide to make the level quick, Winter was able to activate the Cargo Launcher and this successfully got rid of the Queen.

But it didn't kill her since she survived and got back up and instead of facing Short, Winter, Quintaro, and Redding again, she now faced Cruz in the downed dropship, Short, Winter and everybody witnessed the Queen madly attacking Cruz still in the dropship, however Cruz ordered everyone to find Michael Weyland to make him talk and also later collect the Marines off the surface of LV-426 as Hicks bid farewell to Cruz, he activated the dropship Reid wished him "Godspeed, Captain." but then as Cruz piloted the damaged dropship out of the hanger it successfully managed to save everybody and kill the Queen in the process, saving both not only Short, and Winter, but everybody on the ship, minus Cruz.

Finding Michael Weyland and Survival[]

Short (although this never was shown in any cutscenes of the game) was one of the men to help capture Weyland, and now Winter in command had to capture him because of the flight recorder and had to answer Weyland for this, as they managed to find him, O'Neal had him at gun range and however wanted to rather kill Michael Weyland to avenge for the deaths of Captain Jeremey Cruz, Sergeant Keyes, and Private Bella Clarison and everyone else on the Sephora as well, Bishop persuaded O'Neal not to shoot Weyland, but Hicks noticing that it wasn't' real to anyone's belief he found out that he was actually an Android meaning it was a decoy, but this wasn't the end or what they lost, Bishop would be able to download any data which meant it wouldn't be the end for them.

After saving several marines back on LV-426 they now had the information on the Flight Recorder from the USS Sulaco and they now had everything the information, however for Demarcus Short it can be assumed that Short is alive as of 2179 but it is unknown what became of Short after that.

Trivia[]

  • Short only appears in the game's co-operative campaign mode, being the character assumed by the fourth player (in online play). As such his canonicity is debatable.
  • Short like both Quintaro and Redding does not feature in the cutscenes of the game.
  • He has a tattoo on his right arm.
  • There's a known glitch in the game when playing co-operative where a Facehugger will sometimes remain on Short or other players.
  • When being radioed, he will do the exact same pose as Winter does; this also happens with Quintaro and Redding.
  • While his, first name sounds close South American, Short's last name sounds English,
  • Short is described as a tough soldier of Winter's squad[citation needed]

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

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