Ben

Ben Clove is Slough's mayor and the father of Xin Clove and Jayden Tiger. He compromises his office through gang alliances that he claims are necessary to protect his family and govern a gang-controlled city. The Howlers' rise reduces him to a figurehead, while Xin forces him to confront the harm his arrangements caused. He is distinct from the unrelated teenage boy called Ben in Chapter 96.

Biography

Protection, corruption, and loss of control

Ben's concern for Xin becomes controlling after her kidnapping. He plans to remove her from public school and hide her in another city, treating safety and public image as decisions for the family adults; Jayden's proposal that she become an Altered produces the compromise that sends her toward the AFA. The same protective logic shapes Ben's politics. He cooperates with the Rising Dragons and other gangs to maintain influence, uses armed guards around his estate, and participates in an alliance meant to stop the Howlers. His belief that a mayor lacks the power to govern without gangs protects his own household while leaving other Slough families exposed to those groups. (Chapters 216, 258, and 471–472)

Once the Howlers take Slough, Ben remains mayor but loses effective independence. Kai uses his office to coordinate police, municipal staff, surveys, and relief after the Phoenix attack, while Xin compels him to remove abusive former allies and act as a more just mayor. Ben complies, yet defends his past by arguing that everything was done for his family. Their confrontation ends with him revealing that Jayden also supported sheltering Xin, complicating her view of their family without excusing his civic corruption. At his latest appearance he is alive and still serving, with reform enforced by the daughter and organization that cleaned up the danger he had accommodated. (Chapters 763, 926, 931, and 971)

Appearance and personality

Ben is a middle-aged man whose home office prominently displays a plaque identifying him as mayor. He is protective, status-conscious, stubborn, and politically pragmatic. His love for his children is genuine, but he repeatedly uses that love to justify secrecy and control, making his conflict with Xin both familial and civic. (Chapters 216, 258, and 971)

Powers and abilities

Ben demonstrates no Altered form or supernatural power. His capabilities are political: he can direct municipal teams, coordinate police and local government, maintain contacts with gangs, and use the mayor's public legitimacy during recovery. Those tools depend on cooperation and coercive backing; once the Howlers surpass his allies, the same office becomes a mechanism Kai can pressure rather than an independent source of force. (Chapters 471–472, 926, and 931)

Relationships

• Xin Clove: Ben's attempts to protect and control Xin drive their estrangement; she later forces him toward civic reform while demanding the truth about Jayden.
• Jayden Tiger: Ben trusts his son's strength and judgment, and later reveals that Jayden helped shape the family's restrictive protection of Xin.
• Gary Dem: Ben initially distrusts Gary and opposes the Howlers, then remains in office under the organization Gary leads.
• Kai: Kai converts Ben's mayoral authority into a practical civic channel for Howlers policy and disaster relief.

Items

No finalized inventory item is configured for Ben.