Elden, a deformed construct that came into contact with black goo, the liquid that contained the entirety of the world’s genetic makeup, was bitten by The Mutated Predator, a monster that was created as a result.
Naturally, the mutant Predator contracted the black goo infection as well. The incident terribly altered him, and the top predator — who had previously upheld the Yautja code of honour — was now consuming his own kind. The cannibalistic beast had also become stronger and had sprouted a number of strange limbs and body parts.
The four issues of the comic book Alien vs. Predator Fire and Stone, which describes the beginning and end of the Mutated Predator, will be discussed in this video. Shall we get started?
Prelude to Alien vs Predator Fire and Stone
Predators arrive in a remote solar system and settle on a lush, verdant planet. They had arrived on a planet with enormous beasts, creatures with many long horns, shiny red eyes, and long sharp teeth, as a result of their search for powerful and deserving prey. However, as to be expected, the Predators barely break a sweat when dispatching these repulsive creatures.
The Predators do discover the tracks of a different spacecraft, an engine core vessel known as Geryon. Now, Prometheus Fire and Stone, the first tale in the Fire and Stone trilogy, is where the tale of Geryon first began. Geryon was the ship that brought a salvage vessel named Kadmos, a patrol ship named Perses, and the command ship called Helios to LV 223, the resting place of Peter Weyland’s craft from Ridley Scott’s film.
But since Peter Weyland’s mission to discover the origin of humanity ended in a disaster, Angela Foster, the captain of the command ship Helios, decided to finish what Weyland had started. However, LV 223 was not what they expected. Instead of a barren moon, they found a planet thriving with life, so much so that even the very mountains were alive and growing as organic bodies. So, what was the reason behind such a miracle?
Well, the moon was actually the place where an Engineer ship had crashed, and the resultant impact spilt innumerable canisters of black goo. Most people watching this video would know about black goo and Engineers, but for those who are uninitiated, let’s explain. So, Engineers are supposed to be an ancient race, probably as old as time itself. Apart from being highly powerful and intelligent, their technology is highly advanced, so much so that even Predators would kill each other for a bit of Engineer tech.
The Engineers travel around the universe to spread life as they see fit. So, how do they do this? Well, they have something called the black goo, which is basically a liquid that contains genetic codes. Its composition was best described by Astrobiologist Francis Lane, who was a part of the crew of Helion. Referring to the black goo, he said, “It doesn’t just have a genetic makeup, and it has every genetic makeup.
All mixed together. Some I don’t even recognise, but others are very terrestrial. And, it’s aggressive, churning.” So, you see, the black goo is basically the substance which leads to the creation of life in a barren celestial body. Nevertheless, in the second issue of Prometheus, Francis injects his mutated construct named Elden with a syringe of the black liquid. Elden undergoes an immediate and rapid mutation, both physically and mentally. He develops several horrific new body parts, for instance, a jaw with razor-sharp teeth that opened at his abdomen.
Although Elden’s sanity was not entirely lost, he had become a powerful being with the singular agenda of exacting revenge on Francis Lane. But Francis was arrested and taken to Geryon, because he had introduced an alien bio-chemical liquid to a fellow crew member. Prometheus Fire and Stone does not end well for most humans, and only Captain Angela and two of her subordinates survive. The chief security officer, Galgo, and two of his men betray their Captain and escape LV 223 on Geryon, that is the very ship that the Predators intercept in Alien Vs Predator Fire and Stone.
Geryon – A Nest of Otherworldly Monstrosities
It was January 22nd, 2219, and the Geryon armada, including Kadmos and Perses, was drifting away from LV 223. The only ones alive on the ship were Galgo, two of his men, and their prisoner, the astrobiologist Francis Lane. Galgo and his friends had recently abandoned their colleagues on LV 223, an offence that authorities on Earth would have taken quite seriously. Naturally, Galgo was now going to concoct a new truth to tell when he reached back to Earth. The journey back to Earth would have taken a couple of years, and Galgo planned to get into cryosleep until then.
But before that, he needed to put Francis as well to cryosleep. While taking Francis to the cryotube, Galgo asked why he had infected Elden with the black liquid. The real reason was that Francis was dying of cancer, and he thought that the black liquid would be the only way to get a new shot at life. Elden’s construct physiology was strong enough to sustain the mutagenic effects of the liquid, and his blood was supposed to be a refined form of the black liquid– something that only fixed diseases without making the subject violent, hostile, and crazy.
Nevertheless, Francis Lane had failed his construct friend, turning Elden into one of nature’s worst nightmares. But it was done now, and now, all Francis wanted was to get back to Earth. However, Galgo and Francis face the shock of their lives when their spacecraft, Geryon, comes to a halt mid-space. It turns out that Elden was behind the event, because he had taken control of Helios, the command ship. Through radio communication, Elden explains to Galgo and Francis, “I’m in the Helios, the command ship; it controls everything as long as you’re attached to the Geryon.”
He wanted Francis. Soon, Elden was on Geryon, and he would have tasted his revenge, had it not been for the breach alarm that went off. Elden thought that it was one of Galgo’s tricks and attacked the two men with the help of Xenomorphs that he had brought along. But Francis managed to escape with the help of the Engineer weapon he came to be in possession of in LV 223. But why did the breach alarm go off?
Well, the five Predators who had intercepted Geryon had now boarded it. The Predators started looking for Galgo and Elden, who were the only worthy prey on Geryon. However, the ship’s constructs started attacking the Predators, but this did not end well for the former. They were easily overpowered and butchered by the Predators. Meanwhile, the Xenomorphs were slaughtering the other humans on the ship.
As Elden had earlier promised, there was enough blood to quench the thirst of each Xenomorph. On the other hand, one of the Predators found Galgo and Francis. He attacked Galgo, which caused Francis to go into hiding. But Francis used his Engineer weapon to knock down one of the Predators before escaping. Elden kept wandering through the ship, looking for Francis, who was hiding on one of the shafts. But the Predators were hot on Elden’s trail. And finally, they managed to corner the mutated construct.
The Creation of Mutated Predator
One of the Predators fired his plasma caster, the impact of which created a massive hole in Elden’s abdomen. It should have killed him, but Elden simply regenerated into whole again. Even Elden was unaware of these powers and abilities that his body possessed. But apart from the regeneration, his abdomen also developed a maw of sorts, complete with razor-sharp teeth.
Anyway, Elden had just proven that he could very well be an immortal, and he used his strengths to put up a strong fight against the Predators. However, the Predators soon learned that it was best to take on Elden as a team, and one of them tackled him from behind, holding Elden off with an arm around his abdomen. But this proved to be the last sane thing that that Predator ever did.
The maw on Elden’s abdomen grew and bit the Predator. Elden kept fighting and killing the Predators. The sheer brute power that Elden possessed was shown in one of the panels where Elden simply tears off a Predator’s jaws with his bare hands. In the end, only one Predator had survived. He came forward and marked Elden’s forehead with Predator blood. It was his clan’s insignia, which would help Elden in the future against a Predator named Ahab. Meanwhile, the Predator who Elden had bitten was transforming into an abomination.
The black liquid had done its trick on the Predator; it not only grew much larger in size, but developed a pair of black eyes and limbs that came out of weird places in his body. Furthermore, it developed twelve mandibles. The mutated Predator was so powerful that it was able to sever another Predator’s entire arm without much of an effort. Not only that, the mutation had pushed the hunter so far away from himself, that he had become a cannibalistic monster, devouring its own kind.
While the Mutated Predator went on its own kind of rampage, Elden kept searching for his old friend. However, Francis now found himself on the wrong side of a Predator blade. Furthermore, the Xenomorphs that Elden had brought along had now turned on him, going so far as to attack the mutated monster. But now that Elden had been able to take down several Predators, a few Xenomorphs would have been a piece of cake for him.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
Elden found himself under attack from Xenomorphs, who had surrounded him from all sides. He had begun to think that they understood him, and that they were friends, but he couldn’t be more wrong. It was like he had stirred the hornet’s nest, but he was no ordinary creature. He was strong, intelligent, and could regrow his body parts. No matter what the Xenomorphs did, he was proving to be a force to reckon with.
Meanwhile, the Predator who had caught Francis learned that he was already dying of cancer, and the Predator let him live, at least for now. Meanwhile, the mutated Predator was eating his own kind. Clearly, the apex hunter had lost not only his code of honour, but his mind as well.
Seeing the ugly beast cleaning Predator bones was really disturbing. And, that’s saying a lot because I have read a lot of Predator comics. Meanwhile, Elden received help from the Predator, who had marked his forehead. The Predator flung his disk at a Xenomorph that was attacking Elden. The Xenomorph’s head was slashed in half while the disk went on to stick on Elden’s chest. He used the disk to slay the other Xenomorphs before going on to find Francis. By now, a few Xenomorphs had found the mutated Predator, and attacked him.
However, a beast who was thriving on Predator blood could not be brought down by Xenomorphs. Interestingly, the Mutated Predator must have been extremely dangerous because of his new physiology, which was enhanced due to the black goo as well as Predator blood. We already know the wonders that Black Goo can do to a body. However, Predator blood was also something of a miracle.
Even being splashed by the liquid gives the subject enhanced life and prolonged youth. Now, not only did black goo and Predator blood run in the mutated Predator’s body, but he was also consuming Predator flesh and blood. That ought to give him a great deal of additional strength. Anyway, by now, Elden had found Francis, but what Elden did not know was that Francis had already set up a booby trap. As soon as Elden reached the infirmary where Francis was present, the astrobiologist had him captured long enough to extract Elden’s black bodily fluids.
Elden warned Francis about the repercussions of such an action, but Francis was more than sure that Elden’s blood would treat his cancer. But Francis should have paid heed to what Elden was saying, because as soon as Francis emptied the syringe into his vein, a terrible mutation began to take place. Elden was visibly affected by the current fate of his treacherous friend. However, before he could help Francis, the Predator who had helped Elden with the Xenomorphs attacked Elden. As the two of them fought, a fully mutated and hostile Francis broke away. Interestingly enough, he found himself standing against the mutated Predator.
The Final Crusade of the Cursed Ones
In the final issue of Alien vs Predator: Fire and Stone, the mutated Predator attacks the mutated Francis. Francis was suffering from immense pain because of the self-inflicted condition, but the mutated Predator was anything but understanding. All of Francis’s prayers to be left alone failed to find any hearing. But Francis was no more a sickly scientist suffering from cancer, he was now a cursed abomination, who had gained immense strength. The mutated Predator attacked Francis with all the might, but Francis was able to defend himself well enough.
The black goo had transformed Francis’s dying cells into cells filled with fuel– fuel for growth. However, he did not want to fight the mutated Predator and wanted to be left alone so that he could contemplate his new condition. Alas, the Predator would not leave him alone.
Much like Elden had grown a maw in his abdomen, Francis grew one at the back of his head. Francis bit the mutated Predator with this maw, and the attack left the creature bleeding. However, when black goo can give such strength to a sickly human, imagine what it would have done for an apex hunter. The mutated Predator wasn’t going to back down easily. He grabbed both of Francis’s arms and broke them.
But even with his broken arms, Francis rose to his feet to continue the fight. Having said that, the mutated Predator would have ended Francis’s life, had it not been for Elden, who had come just in time to aid Francis. Soon, Elden was fighting the abomination. This gave Francis enough time to heal his broken bones, and he came to Elden’s help. The two mutated friends grabbed the mutated Predator by its arms, only to sever the arms.
And once the mutated Predator had been completely overpowered, Francis ended its life in one final strike. So, that’s how the Mutated Predator’s glorious spell of violence came to an end. Had it not been for the combined strengths of Francis and Elden, the Mutated Predator would have continued to wreak havoc. But the story doesn’t end here. If you wish to know the rest of the story and what happened to Elden and Francis, do check out our video that details the origins and life of Elden. In that video, we have explored nine comic issues of the Fire and Stone series.