Mozzie the Road Warrior

A few months ago, Penna wrote a post about The Cars in Caffrey Conversation. Her focus was on Neal and Peter. In this post, I'd like to shine the spotlight on Mozzie's connection to cars.

I've enjoyed highlighting Mozzie's special flair for panache in the road trips he's taken with Neal and Peter. Mozzie's skill at driving was highlighted a couple of times in canon. The first scene was when in "Flip of the Coin" he was a champagne-drinking limousine driver who foiled an escape attempt. Later, in the third season finale "Judgment Day," he takes Neal on a wild ride in an ambulance to help him escape being arrested on Roosevelt Island.

In my stories, I've used Mozzie's road trips as a way for him to exhibit his uniquely quirky personality. Since Mozzie is the consummate con artist, I assumed his vehicles would be as well. In The Mirror, he embraced his ornithologist persona by driving a mud-splattered SUV. In Harlequin's Shadow, he took Peter on two road trips. The first one was in an ancient Citroen Dyane. Later in the story, Mozzie drove a Volkswagon bus to pursue Adler and a kidnapped Neal. Mozzie was especially proud of the Volkswagon. Like him, it was in disguise. When Peter first saw it, the vehicle was a grimy dark blue, but after a quick stop at a car wash, it transformed into a sleek white modern SUV. Mozzie had also souped up the bus so it could race like a thoroughbred.

Peter has been an unhappy passenger on most of Mozzie's road trips. I assumed, base case, Peter would tend to be a backseat driver. When riding with Mozzie, his frustration goes into overdrive. The vehicles, Mozzie's style of driving, all seem expressly designed to annoy him.

For the Arkham Files stories which are set in the 1970s, Peter drives a Ford Torino instead of a Taurus, while Mozzie owns a Hornet Sportabout. The choice of a Hornet is a tip of the hat to Mozzie's script for Yellowface, the Masked Avenger, a video production about the endangered yellow-faced bee. In Time Crystals, Mozzie drives a 1957 Chevy station wagon when he and Peter travel back in time. As of Chapter 3, Mozzie has suppressed any erratic driving tendencies, but Peter senses he's on borrowed time.

Dean Winchester's 1967 Impala is a classic which has been featured in my Crossed Lines series. The car bears many signs of the monsters which he and Sam have hunted across the country. For Mozzie, the self-proclaimed germophobe, riding in the car was a terrifying experience. So far Dean and Sam haven't ridden in any of Mozzie's vehicles, but Peter, for one, is looking forward to them having the thrill.

Time Crystals on Archive of Our Own
Time Crystals on FanFiction