There was a calculated bout of silence that followed that little slip of the tongue in which Tony did his best to control his smirk and not stare too blatantly at Sue while she mentally berated herself. The sunglasses helped. While she worked out all of the ways her phrasing could possibly be construed all on her own with a hopefully very thorough and detailed imagination, Tony kept his face forward to watch the technicians squabble over something that hadn't been packed properly, and, more importantly, the van approaching the scene beyond them. That, he smirked openly at.
"That's a good sign," he finally offered, the vehicle of interest coming to a stop, but those inside needing a good five to seven-point eight minutes to compile the program. "I mean," Tony continued, turning his attention back to her as he blindly plucked a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "that you do actually feel underappreciated, not, you know, underfoot." He raised his eyebrows at the sheer drama of the latter situation as he took a cigarette between his lips and offered them to Susan. It bobbed as he said, "I can tell you, though, there was never a point where they could not function without you. Get that out of your head. Think of it like a company: If you're being underutilized, you're the one that needs to make the effort to contribute." Tony, lit cigarette in hand then, knew that she knew that, which made him squint suspiciously at her with his glasses slid down on his nose, trying to suss out her motives. "You brought that effort all the way up the block to me, though, instead of keeping it in house. So, what is it, honeymoon period is over and you're going to ditch me once you get bored, too, or are you getting pushed out? Because I don't like the sound of either of those options."
In front of them, whatever squabble the team was having was completely forgotten in favour of an uncertain celebration that rippled through all those assembled like the fluttering pulse of a failing heart monitor. Impact Zone 1, it seemed, was ready to rumble.