-Unbetaed, non native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes.
-Warning: bad attempt at humor, spoilers for Doctor Strange and Infinity War.

"Before explaining the Sorcerer Supreme, I must start explaining about the Master of the Mystic Arts first."

"What's a Master of the Mystic Arts?"

"A Master of the Mystic Arts is a person can channel and manipulate energy from different realms and sources to perform magic."

"So are you a magician like Criss Angel?"

Stephen winced. "No, nothing like Criss Angel. No offense, but we don't do tricks nor perform. We're the real deal. We prefer the terms Masters of the Mystic Arts. We protect this realm from multidimensional threats."

"Multimdimensional threats? Never heard of that."

"Because we do our jobs properly. You're welcome."

Gary's jaw dropped so Stephen considered it as an invitation to continue.

"The Sorcerer Supreme is the title bestowed upon a Master of Mystic Arts who has the best skills and desirable qualities such as compassion and altruism. My teacher, the Ancient One, was the Sorcerer Supreme. After she died, the position was empty for two years because there was no one qualified for the position. My mystic arts progressed nicely since I was trapped in the Dark Dimension with Dormammu for years so might as well honed my skills while bargaining with him. After the fight with Thano was over and dust settled…." Stephen winced again. "… Sorry, that was a poor choice of idiom given what happened to half of the population including myself. After I managed to trick Thanos into thinking he was winning, the Visanthis thought I'd be qualified to compete in the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament. Naturally I passed the obstacles to get the title but because of some stupid rules I owed Doctor Doom a favor."

Gary's eyes widened. "Doctor Doom as in the King of Latveria? I don't understand most of what you said. Who are the Ancient One, Vikanto, and Dormando?"

Stephen internally sighed. Typical. But he would try anyway. "Yes for Doctor Doom. I'll explain about the rest later. Anyway, I need to travel to Hell to save the soul of Doom's mother from Memphisto. After some more twists and betrayals, finally we saved her. So that's when I got the title."

"If you work for Doom, why should I trust you?"

Stephen sighed louder for effects this time. "I was not working for him and I never will. Did I mention about the stupid rules? Do you want me to explain the rules? Besides, my point is to show that my job is to protect this realm. So although I don't fit your usual description of superheroes, I still do their job on a larger and multidimensional scale."

"Unless you have some sorts of documents or pictures, I won't believe anything you said. Unlike you, we don't live in a fantasy world."

Stephen rubbed his face tiredly. "How did I take picture in Hell? The tournament was not exactly technology friendly as my phone fried when I brought it there. How can I show proof? Do you want Doom to confirm it? I actually have his number."

Gary looked horrified. "That won't be necessary. You said you helped the Avengers. Can any of the Avengers confirm that?"

The doctor groaned internally. He was not going to ask Tony a favour. It'd enlarge his already inflated ego. "Will Captain America do?"

The agent brightened at the mention of Cap. "Yes, definitely . Or even Iron Man."

"Well, they are both out on a mission." That part was true. Peter Parker told him that.

"That's disappointing. But any of the Avengers would do. How about X-Men or Fantastic Four? Are you a member of any of those?"

"How could I become a member of Fantastic Four when they already specified the number of members in their group name?"

Gary shrugged. "I don't know, perhaps as an honorary member. I don't really know how superheroes' clubs were formed. I just need a proof to process your claim. You said you protect this realm from multidimensional threats. Can you explain a bit more about that?"

"Well, there was this one time that a super powerful being called Dormammu from another dimension wanted to take over this world. Some of the Masters of the Mystic Arts including my teacher have been killed and Hong Kong was destroyed. I reversed time to repair the damages and restore lives..."

"I'm sorry. Did you say you reversed time? I haven't heard of anyone who can reverse time. Not even the Avengers."

"Well, a Master of the Mystic Arts can with the help of the Time Stone. How would you know that someone hasn't messed up with the time if you don't even know the changes?"

Gary seemed to be horrified by the idea. "Please don't mess with my world view. I prefer not to think about that. I presume the Time Stone is a device like Time Turner which made you Hermione." Stephen internally winced although he did share her brightness and thirst of knowledge. "Do you have the Time Stone now and show some demonstration?"

Stephen massaged his temples. "Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore because I gave it to Thanos. Which is the other time I saved the universe."

Gary's jaw dropped. "So you have saved this world at least twice but I haven't heard of you. I think your story about reversing time was too fantastic to be made up so do continue."

"Thank you. Well, I reversed the damages and restored lives in Hong Kong so that should at least be good for the insurance business. Anyway, after that I travelled to Dormammu's dimension and trapped him in a time loop. Do you know the time loop like in the movie Groundhog Day?"

"That's one of my favourite movies."

"Oh good, so I don't need to explain what a time loop is. You see, Dormammu lived in a realm without the concept of time so when I brought time with him, he was super annoyed."

"What did you do in the time loop?"

"Mostly avoiding getting killed and tortured by perfecting my Mystic Arts."

"But it's a loop so the time must be circular. So how was it circular?"

"Well, the time restarted every time I died."

"But you're alive right now!"

"Well, I got better. I've set up the time loop so whenever I died, I'd return to life."

"I thought you said you avoided getting killed."

"Apparently, I was not very good at avoiding it. But I got better. Initially, it just took seconds for him to kill me. Later, it took much longer time, until months before I died. Sometime it was because I was very good at avoiding his attacks, some other time it was because he tortured me but he got bored."

Gary looked sick hearing that. Perhaps Stephen should remove Gary's memory of this conversation for his sanity. "How long were you in the loop?"

"I'm not sure how long I was in the loop. Could be years or decades."

"You're not that old."

"Time is relative when you have the Time Stone. It's only the blink of an eye in Earth's time but it has been years in the Dark Dimension." Stephen couldn't believe the day he was having himself. He was stabbed by the Kaecillius' zealot, lost the Ancient One, and bargained with Dormammu within a span of a few hours but it was actually years for him personally. That was certainly a bad day or bad decades for him.

"How many times did you die?"

"I didn't bother to count after 1000."

Gary's jaw dropped. "How are you still functioning now? I won't be functioning after I got resurrected even once."

"Well, who said I'm functioning now. It doesn't matter because I've got a job to protect this realm. Every penny I could claim from this insurance would help." He looked pleadingly at Gary.

Gary actually started to look sympathetic which Stephen hoped was a good sign. "So what happened with Dormando then?"

"Dormammu. D-O-R-M-A-M-M-U. Finally he got sick of killing me without any chance to escape the loop so I made a bargain with him. He wouldn't disturb Earth from now on and I'd free him from the loop."

Gary's jaw dropped open again. "I believe you were telling the truth because I'm very good at detecting a liar and as I said, your story was too fantastic and original to be a made-up story. Is there any chance that you've any proof about this effort so I could type it up for my supervisor? I really would like to help you."

Stephen shook his head. "Sadly, I didn't have any proof. Did I say I repair the damages in Hong Kong so it looked like nothing happened?"

"Yes, you said that. Perhaps you have more proof with the other guy, Thamsos?"

"Thanos. T-H-A-N-O-S. Well, it actually started when I was going to deli to pick up some sandwiches for Wong and I. I never got that sandwich so I died hungry."

Gary's eyes grew comically big. "Did you die again? How are you alive now? Let me guess, you got better."

Stephen couldn't help but smiled. "Yup. See, you're catching on. Sorry that I got ahead of myself with my story but I really wanted that sandwich."

"Well, I was about to get a sandwich when Bruce Banner fell through the sky to my Sanc-.., my house and destroyed my roof, my staircase, and my floor which was the reason I'm here in the first place."

Gary waved his hands. "We'll get back to that later if you can show any proof. So what happened next?" He seemed to be truly invested in his story now. Stephen hoped that was a good sign.

He then told him about picking up Tony Stark to tell him about Thanos, about them fighting Thanos' minions in New York.

"You must've heard about what happened in New York back then." Although Stephen was not sure because how much effect of Thanos' finger snap was reversed and how much people remembered.

"Yes, I did. Wasn't Tony Stark missing afterward?"

OK, that answered his question whether people remembered. "Yes, he was. He came to rescue me because I was abducted by Thanos' minion who looked like Voldermort. He wanted the Time Stone which I enchanted so others couldn't take it from me unless I gave it to them willingly."

"I thought you're a Master of the Mystic Arts. How could he abduct you?"

He sniffed. "I wasn't prepared. I was taken by surprise by his telekinesis. I'd do much better if I was prepared. Even the Avengers have been defeated by their enemies before." This was indeed a sore point for him.

"I was just asking. Don't get so defensive. Go on."

"I also enchanted the Time Stone so nobody could take it from me if I died. That left them with one option— torture. They wanted me to give it to them willingly." He started to feel the phantom pains again thinking all those glasses piercing his head and his body. He drew some deep breaths.

"Doctor Strange, are you OK? You look a bit pale. You survived Dormammu's death and torture so why were you flinching about this?"

That was indeed a good question. "Perhaps because I knew what was going to face with Dormmamu but I was completely taken by surprise with Voldermort-wannabe? Perhaps because this happened more recently at least to me? I'm not sure. I was a surgeon, not a psychologist."

Gary nodded. "It makes sense. Go on."

He was glad Gary accepted his answer. He told him the story about how he got taken into a spaceship to be tortured and how Tony Stark and Spider-Man came to rescue him and blasted Voldermort and also himself but luckily Spider-Man rescued him.

Gary interrupted. "In that case, Iron Man or Spider-Man can vouch for you. We can ask either of them later. But please continue." He leaned on his palms with his elbows on the desk. He seemed to intent to hear Stephen's whole story.

Stephen could just call Peter to ask him to vouch for him. Somehow Stephen felt compelled to continue. Perhaps it was a good therapy for him. Well, it was certainly cheaper than paying a real therapist. He continued with his story.

He wanted to go back to Earth to strategize and regroup but Stark wanted to bring to fight to Thanos himself on Titan so Earth would be spared.

Gary interrupted. "So you could you that your battle is Attack on the Titan."

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Yes, you could say that. Shall I continue?"

"Please."

He told him that they found a ragtag of aliens led by one human who called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. Stephen used the Time Stone to look into the future where they could win. Out of 14,000,605 alternate futures he saw with plenty of deaths, tortures and destruction for himself and others, he only found one future they could win. Apparently in that future he gave up the Time Stone to allow Thanos to win first and Tony Stark had to live. After he gave up the Stone, half of the population of the universe died including himself.

"But did you win in the end?"

"Well, most of the people who died by Thanos' fingersnap including myself came back to life so what do you think?"

Gary seemed to be starstruck. "You're awesome. Again, it's too fantastic and original to be made up. What happened to you was horrible though."

"I agree. I was hungry and didn't manage to eat anything until I died on Titan."

He nodded. "OK, that was horrible but I was referring to your torture and all those deaths and tortures you saw in the 14 million futures."

"Ah yes, that too."

"How could you be so blaze about the whole thing?"

"I keep myself busy so I don't have much time to think and plenty of meditations when I'm not busy. It was not always successful. I was terrified when I remembered my session with Voldermort-wannabe earlier."

Gary looked at him regretfully. "I believe your stories. I really do. I think you're one of the most strong-willed superheroes as you can endure so much deaths and tortures. I just need some proof to show my boss."

Before Stephen could reply, there was a voice coming in from the window. "How about a vouch from Spider-Man? Will it do?"

Spider-Man swung in via the window. Sophie followed in carrying his Sorcerer robe and gave it to Stephen.

Gary seemed to be shocked by the sight of Sophie. "Is that thing alive?"

Spider-Man dropped soundlessly in front of Gary. "She certainly is. She is the coolest sentient being that I know of belonging to a superhero with the coolest costume and weirdest made-up name." Peter winked at him. "I know,Doc, you don't consider yourself as a superhero but you totally are."

Gary turned to look at Stephen who had used magic to don his robe and let Sophie settle on his shoulder. He stammered. "I…I can see that now." He quickly stamped his approval on Stephen's claim. "Spider-Man, could I get a picture and an autograph from you?"

Peter brightened. "Sure."

Gary passed his phone for Stephen to take pictures.

Stephen took it and snapped some pictures. Peter posed. He did his signature upside-down pose and sommersault-in-the-air pose. Gary seemed to be on cloud nine. Good for him.

Stephen was grateful to Peter for his help. Finally he got some money for renovation. Sophie must've gone to fetch Peter on the way to get his robe. It still stung that Spider-Man was more well-known than him. His inner voice that sounded like Wong said that sorcerers had to remain invisible but Wong was not always right.

Perhaps it was the time for him to join the Avengers not for the glory but for economic reason. He heard superheroes get some discounts in some stores. He was sure Wong would approve of that.

Gary called out. "Doctor Strange, I'd like to take some pictures with you. You might not be as well-known as the Avengers but you're my personal favourite after Spider-Man. No offense."

"None taken." Well, perhaps he needed to reconsider whether to join the Avengers.

Notes:

-The Sorcerer Supreme tournament mentioned by Stephen was described in the comic "Triumpth and Torment" starring Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange. I think it was one of the best Marvel comic.
-Stephen indeed has very strong will as shown here: i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/173766269493/ruffaled-saw-this-on-reddit-earlier-holy-shit
-Stephen and Peter's friendship can be summarized here: i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/173792994618/greatpowcr-its-been-84-years-and-i-still-love
In Doctor Strange 390, Peter told Stephen that he was still a hero even when he was not the Sorcerer Supreme because he would go back into being a doctor or a vet when he was the Supreme
-Stephen and Tony's relationship in Infinity War was described here: i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/174095613858/do-you-think-strange-holds-grudge-easily
-In Infinity War, Stephen's hands shook when he handover the stone to Thanos. I love the continuity there although poor Stephen. He must be so exhausted and battered after being tortured, hungry and fought for the whole day. Thanos almost choked him in one scene which was similar to what he did to Loki which was quite worrying but Thanos let go maybe because Stephen hid the stone and he planned to torture him to get the location. When we thought everyone on the Titan survived, then the finger snap happened.
-The events in Doctor Strange (since the attack on the New York sanctum until the end) and Infinity War only happened for a few hours so those are definitely bad days.
-Feedback and comments are appreciated. After I got this crack out of my system then I hope I can get back to more serious stories (fingers crossed).