Zhi Li dressed as a warrior princess.

Zhi Li from her films.

Zhi Li looking stern and fierce.

Zhi Li as Mei-Lien had dreamt of being as a girl. As she still wished she could turn back the clock and be.

“Mei-Lien!” Zhi Li said, and her voice was firm, the voice of a general commanding her troops. Her eyes were full of fire.

“Zhi Li!” she said, frightened, excited, uncertain what was happening.

“Mei-Lien, the time has come! Your nation has been stolen from you!”

The screen changed abruptly, showing the face of Bo Jintao, the new Premier, the Minister of State Security, zoomed in close, something about his round face so smug, so vile.

Bo Jintao opened his mouth and laughed. “Bao Zhuang is President in name only,” he said. Too loud. Too loud.

“I am in control now!”

The laugh played again, the same laugh, a loop of it.

“I am in control now! Hahaha.”

“I am in control now! Hahaha.”

The face shifted again.

“Be grateful I let you live.”

“I am in control now! Hahaha.”

“Be grateful I let you live.”

“I am in control now! Hahaha.”

“Be grateful I let you live.”

Mei-Lien was breathing hard. Her chest was pounding. She hated this man. How had she thought he was handsome? How had she thought he was good for China? His thugs had beaten innocent children.

Another man appeared. Sun Liu, the old Minister of Science and Technology, in suit and tie, less zoomed in, looking dignified, a golden shaft of light falling on him.

“This is a coup!” Sun Liu said. “The people will revolt!”

Bo Jintao appeared again and laughed, a sneering villain

“Hahaha. I am in control now! Be grateful I let you live.”

Sun Liu stood dignified in his golden light, and answered him with passion. “This is a coup! The people will revolt!”

And Mei-Lien felt something stir within her.

Then Zhi Li was back, the warrior princess.

“Mei Lien!” she barked. “Now is the time for all who love China to come to her aid!”

Mei Lien found herself nodding.

“Your son fights, Mei Lien!” Zhi Li said. “Now is the time for you to join him!”

Mei Lien’s eyes went wide.

“China!” Zhi Li said. “Take to the streets! We fight with you!”

On the screen, Zhi Li pulled her magic sword from its sheath, the sword that could not be re-sheathed until China was free of danger. It caught the sunlight as she held it high above her head and turned to a piece of golden fire held in the hands of the mythic princess…

“We?” Mei Lien asked softly, still trying to catch her breath.

And then the camera pulled back, revealing more.

Lu Sang pulled his mighty two handed sword. Gao Jian cocked an arrow. Wang Hui hoisted his machine pistol. Xu Ling lifted her spear. Dozens of heroes. Scores of heroes. The camera kept pulling back. A desert plain, filled with heroes.