The plan that the girl, Medea proposed, was quite convoluted, with many points of potential failure. It might look simple at first sight, but then it was anything but. As she proposed, Jason was to impress her father by successfully completing several tasks. And it would make sense, as the king's first impression of Jason, was for the lack of other words, lacking. Thus the leader of the idiots, also known as Argonauts, would have to make a better impression the second time.
While she was initially against this stupidity, Nike was left with no other choice, since the only other idea came from Pollux, and it entailed wrestling the dragon. This was instantly rejected by her, to save herself from future headaches.
Thus, Jason went to King Aeëtes for the second time, ready to complete the tasks that were prepared for him. The tasks were ridiculous. At first, Jason had to plow a field, on his own, while firebreathing oxen were leisurely walking around. Again, how did the king get hold of such creatures in the first place? And how in Tartarus, he managed to tame them, or at least put them in the state in which they were tame? From what she knew, they should be nothing more than ravenous beats, thirsting for human blood. And yet, here they were, munching grass while having fiery indigestion here and there.
There was nothing, to her knowledge, that would allow humans to tame these beasts. On the other hand, she also did not know everything. In fact, compared to other Olympians, she knew very little about all the different experiments they did, and the monsters they created. So, if there was a human guarding Golden Fleece, he might have been given something to make his task easier.
Sadly, it made her task harder. Jason seemed to be faring quite well, that girl Medea, gave him some fire deterrent, so he did not burn all that much. Though it barely helped him with the heat and since he was covered by the substance, it did not allow him to sweat. And thus, to no ones surprise, after plowing for hours amongst the fire-breathing oxen, Jason fell to the ground like a rock. Not even a group of warriors, who were making noises to disperse the fiery cattle, woke him up. She just hoped that that particular idiot did not die again. That would be terrible and bothersome.
The second plan failed spectacularly, therefore now it was time for yet another plan. And this time she would not let anyone delay her any further. This time, she was the one to come up with the plan.
"Girl? Do you still have some of that sleeping concoction?" she asked, the princess Medea who was looking at unconscious Jason with worry in her eyes.
"Y-Yes," said the princess, her look not leaving Jason, who was now being carried by other Argonauts back to their ship.
"Good, give it to me," she said, waiting for Medea to comply.
"I don't have it on me," the young woman answered.
"Fine, then bring it to the Argo," Nike said, turning around ready to leave.
"I can't leave the palace grounds. It would be too suspicious," the princess explained.
"You are right," said the uplifted human, once she realized, that the princess leaving her home, to go to the ship, where the young man, she clearly favored, was being carried.
This would be too obvious and could actually bring more complications along the way. If that was the case, then it would be better, if she met with their group near the Golden Fleece.
"Very well, princess, you will meet with the Aragonauts near the Golden Fleece, far enough as not to spook the dragon, at midnight. And bring the sleeping potion, we can't have the dragon making a ruckus," Nike explained only the necessary.
"Will there be Jason?" Medea asked.
"If he can cool down. You would not want him to be ill, or worse, would you?" she raised her eyebrow at the princess, the girl's intentions were quite obvious.
"No!" the young woman almost shouted.
Aphrodite would probably call it a teenage romance or something similar. Something she herself seems to not understand. And the same was true for her daughter Arachne.
How did it come to this? She was so furious at the idiots, for doing another incredible stupidity. Even when the plan she gave them, was so simple, the Argonauts still managed to mess it up in a spectacular way.
First, Jason managed to barely recover from overheating, which was good, since he did not die. But once the princess was mentioned, he demanded to go with the rest of the recovery party, even if he was in no state to do so. His request was rejected promptly by Nike, arguing that he would just slow the rest of his friends down. But as it was, he somehow convinced the idiots to take him with them.
Then, once they were at the meeting place, Jason wanted to play the hero in front of the girl he was very over the heels for. As such, he drank the sleeping concoction which was intended for the dragon, before the princess could explain how to use it. According to the princess's testimony, poor Jason just misunderstood, but the snickering of the other Argonauts, when Nike learned about the events, was telling a different story.
With the sleeping potion gone and Jason unconscious, it left the rest of the party with no other option, but to wrestle the dragon into submission. Pollux's description, was indeed detailed and colorful, explaining the minute actions he took to subdue the dragon. Nike was left speechless by it. Was Zeus's child perhaps a genius, when it came to wrestling?
Of course, fighting the dragon caused a lot of noise. So much so in fact, that the whole palace was woken up and soldiers were sent to deal with the intruders. That, of course, did not stop the Argonauts, from continuing to wrestle the dragon, until they finally broke its neck.
Then, they swiftly recovered the Golden Fleece, unconscious Jason, Princess Medea and finally the dragon carcass. The few guards stood no chance against the incredible force, that were the idiots she was supposed to babysit. Thus the Argonauts managed to retreat back to their ship, and in a hurry they left the harbor with the before-mentioned spoils.
All of this, of course, was not without consequences, and now they were pursued by King Aeëtes's forces, more specifically all the ships he could send after them.
"Pollux! Drop that dragon carcass over the board this instant! It is slowing us down! And you princess, put that thing away from me!"
She was so furious! Absolutely! Almost, nothing went according to plan, except tracking the monsters and successfully ambushing them. From there, it went only downwards. The spider monster managed to avoid her arrow, at the very last moment, before it would have hit it. And then, her Athena had to improvise and pull the attention to herself, so she could get a clear hit on the monster again. And the other monster disappeared somewhere in meanwhile.
Her huntresses went to engage the monster's retainers since they managed to discern, from their tracks, that the monsters did not travel alone, but in a group. But she would have never imagined, that those little humans would dare to do such a thing and attack her. Worse, they even managed to knock her arrow out of its course.
And that was why, the spider monster avoided a certain death for a second time that day. The absurdity of it! How dare they, the mere humans, attack her, a goddess?! She dealt with them swiftly, as it should be. Meanwhile, the spider monster managed to hurt her Athena again, completely hurt this time, as not much remained of her body. She really wanted to hurt the monster so badly, but that could come later.
Now, her main priority was to get as quickly, to her Athena as possible. Her poor Athena was so much hurt, that only half of her body managed to regenerate till this point.
"Athena? Are you alright?" she asked, hoping for some response.
But only an incoherent mumbling was her response. Her Athena was so much out of it, that she could not even speak. Possibly not even realizing that she was here with her. The poor thing.
Artemis felt so helpless. There was nothing she could do for her Athena, to soothe her pains even more than it was already done. She only could be here for, her Athena, when she finally came back to consciousness.
But that left her with a time to kill. If she only could do so. Or at least kill that cursed spider monster, who hurt her Athena. Alas, it was impossible, since she did not have that much time. But that did not mean, that she could not do anything. She could tell about it to their father, Zeus. And he would certainly do something about the monster. And if she played it right, she could be even able to fulfill her promises to the spider monster personally. Once her father was done with it.
And thus Artemis found herself in the throne room of Olympus, opening the doors with force.
"Father!" she said, striding directly forward.
"Artemis? You are already back from your hunt?" he asked curiously.
"Sadly yes. The monsters had run away! It even injured Athena again," she explained.
"Monsters? Which monsters?" questioned her father, with slight worry on his face.
"The second Medusa and the spider monster, that hurt Athena on Lemnos a year ago," she said.
"You stupid child! Why did you go to hunt that thing?!" thundered the king of Olympus, moving forward from his throne.
"It hurt my Athena and it hurt you, father! Athena came to me, with a plan to track it down and kill it, to avenge both of you," Artemis explained not even noticing that she backed down several steps.
Her father only signed at that, putting his head in his hands, probably thinking about what to do next. This was her time, she could use this to make her father go after the monster. After all, she and her Athena were their father's favorite children. Zeus would certainly take action.
"Father we should go together to finish the monster. It could not have gone too far from the place we fought," she said.
"Do you have a death wish, you stupid brat?!" roared her father into her face losing most of his composure.
"F-Father?" she said realizing that she was backed down to one of the many chairs in the throne room.
Her father was never this angry towards her. This kind of behavior was, until now, reserved solely for Ares.
"I see you do not know what you did wrong. Then let me tell you, stupid child. That spider monster is primordial, your morronic brother Ares, created it with the help of some Foreigner. You and Athena are both lucky that you are still alive!" said Zeus, struggling to keep his anger in check.
"B-But!" she tried to say something, but there was no space for her to talk.
"Go to tend to your Athena, and tell that idiot that you are both prohibited from leaving Olympus until I come up with some punishment for you. Understood?!" raised his voice slightly, Zeus.
She could not manage to do much more than simply wordlessly nod in her shock.
"Good. Now leave!" ordered the king of Olympus leaving no place for any discussion.
With that, she hurried out of the throne room, as fast as she could, since seeing her father like this was terrifying. She quickly went to look after her Athena, dreading what would be their fate, once their father decided what to do with them. Hopefully it won't be anything so severe as Ares's punishment, she could not let her Athena suffer that, not even from their father.
He was greatly disappointed with his children. The amount of idiocy, they displayed, with their latest stunt, was enormous. Moreover, he would have never expected something so foolish out of Athena and Artemis, if anything, these two were his most sensible creations, at least until this point.
Nevertheless, he managed to keep his composure this time and did not lash at Artemis in anger, as he did with Hephaestus more than a year ago. He should be proud of that.
Yet, now, he had to deal with that spider monster, he could not leave its transgression without retaliation. If he did nothing, that way humans and others would have no respect for him. And worse, the foreigners that worked with Ares, would use it against him, the opportunity when the Olympians were weakened, to strike and encroach on the Olympian territory.
A show of strength was required. Luckily, the Kronos core was successfully synchronized with Heracles's new frame. The spider monster would be destroyed and whoever wanted to encroach on his territory would be warned, or Heracles's next target. Looking at his modified creation, he decided to activate it. Heracles drew a deep breath after a while and stood up in front of his creator.
"Search and destroy," Zeus ordered and the tall man's eyes shone red as he learned who his target was.