Night at the Museum, When a simple B&E goes horribly wrong Options

[Elfenlied]

Hello all,
Our last session was rather messy, and I think I’ll need your advice on how to handle it properly. Here’s what happened:

The group was hired to retrieve an antique vase from a museum in Hollywood (AAA zone) by one of their contacts, who in turn received the mission from an unknown Johnson. Their contact, a technomancer, accompanied them on the mission. The legwork part went pretty well; they visited the museum during regular opening hours, took notes of the security (the place was guarded by relatively inexperienced graduates from a Knight Errant academy), and swiped a couple of ID badges. The PC hacker was able to retrieve a blueprint of the building, detailing a drain pipe at a nearby river leading into an abandoned sewer system which in turn allowed access into the museum courtyard.

They decided to hit the museum at night. After commissioning some Knight Errant uniforms, they travelled to the drain pipe with their submarine. After disabling the security on the grate, they got into the museum courtyard, and snuck into the museum. With their swiped ID badges, they managed to get into the security bureau, and took down the guards. With lethal ammo. Lucky for them, their hacker intercepted the alarm signal from the guards’ biomonitors. Their contact hacks into the security system, and provides them with a live feed from the cameras into their AR.

Now, before they went into the central exhibition hall (accessible only through the courtyard), where their vase was kept, they decided to hunt down the remaining guards. Again, with lethal takedowns. They then proceeded into the exhibition hall, dispatched the guards there, and disabled the alarm system on the showcase. After acquiring the vase, they begin to mutilate the corpses of the guards, the details of which I shall spare you.

Examining the vase, they discover that it is dual natured, and a map pointing to a treasure spot is painted on it in astral paint. At the same time, the doors to the exhibition hall seal shut, the alarm is triggered, and they hear the sound of their NPC technomancer collapsing. The hacker, who stayed outside of the exhibition hall, attempts to rescue their technomancer, but is sedated by an unknown assailant. In the meantime, regular cops arrive at the courtyard (response times for law enforcement are pretty fast in AAA zones), but are slaughtered by the Sam from the second story window, who brought his easy breakdown sniper rifle.

Realizing that they can’t get out of the room conventionally, they use a couple of thermite rods, and make a run for their two teammates. By now, SWAT has arrived, and a helicopter equipped with speakers demands that they surrender, lay down their arms and the usual police stuff. Well, the players didn’t think so, and gunned down the first squad while escaping the helicopter’s suppressive fire. Entering the security room, they notice that the scene has been rigged to make it look like the hacker and the technomancer attempted to kill each other. The hacker is still alive, but the technomancer is dead.

With their teammate in tow, they flee towards the sewer, but in the ensuing shoot-out, the group’s face and hacker are incapacitated, while the sam and the mage managed to flee. The captured characters are brought to a secure holding facility, where they are kept in isolation.

Now, how should I handle this? The original plan was for them to either escape, or surrender to the police. In the latter case, a high-ranking contact would have been able to bail them out, provided they didn’t kill anyone. Right now, about 20 museum guards and 15 SWAT members are either dead or severely wounded, so that option is right out. On the other hand, I am reluctant to simply kill them of, since the third party disrupting their mission was part of the original scenario. A rescue attempt mounted by the rest of the players would likely result in failure, since they’re down to 2 members, and the other 2 players wouldn’t be able to participate in the scenario.

So, how do I handle this gracefully? I don’t want to permanently gimp anyone’s character, but I don’t want them to get off with a slap on the wrist.