The problem is that the characters have no way to respond or otherwise cointeract this escalation, because the only people who could are GM characters and Lucius' characters. Nobody else playing has the resources,  status or connections. This escalation is a knock out blow because in a day or two everyone who isn't a die hard to the cause will defect so they have access to any money at all and the rest can be rolled over with ease. 

I appreciate wanting to raise the stakes amd make things more serious, but you've done it in a way that only the GMPCs can fix, short of the opposing alliance having some kind of miracle comeback and winning within a day or two. We certainly don't have any real world solutions, so whatever else you plan will just add humiliation atop the inevitable win now that our agency is basically gone.