Barnes

"Whatever you do, do not come back for me."-Barnes.

Layne "Barnes" Barnesck is one of the antagonists of the series, making his debut in episode 7, in which he is supposedly killed.

Personality and appearance
Barnes is thoughtful and always stands up for his friends, especially Clark, who is his best buddy. Barnes isn't afraid to risk his life for the safety of Jason, making him very honorable.

Barnes is your everyday Nova Prospekt soldier, with red eyes. He is not that special in appearance, which is both his gift and his curse.

Backstory
Layne, as any other Combine related character, once was employed in City 17, where he worked at Nova Prospekt. He already became good buddies with Clark Robbins on the job. It is where he gained his alias: Barnes, from his last name Barnesck. However, as with all of the Combine soldiers who survived the destruction of City 17, he was left unemployed. He wasn't interested in working with the Combine any longer, and instead focused on fighting crime with Clark, to redeem themselves for what they did in service of the Combine. In his quest to fight crime, he inevitably came across Negatwist, one of the greatest evils on the surface of this world. He became a point of interest to Layne, and it wouldn't take long before he started the research on Negatwist along with Clark. He became a true "Negatwist Expert".

It's been said that Barnes, after he lost his job, worked at a Combine APC factory somewhere close to Jason's Neighborhood. He worked there for a while until he decided he did not want to lend the Combine his services any longer.

Death (?)
During the events of episode 7, Barnes takes it upon himself to distract Shodd's Stormfront Division while Clark and Jason run towards the coast, to safety. He runs straight through the gunfire, endangering his life. Although not seen on-screen, Barnes is wounded by the gunfire and sits to rest behind a wrecked car. After the death of Clark, Barnes apologizes to Clark that is "Has to end like this." and that "I am done for...".

Then, the Striders of Shodd's division fire their warp cannons, and the car behind which Barnes is resting is blown up by the impact. With Barnes resting behind the car, it is unlikely that he survived.